Community-Based Outreach and Treatment for Underserved Older Adults With Clinically Significant Worry: A Randomized Controlled Trial

•The main question addressed by this study was whether two evidence-based interventions created by a community-academic partnership for improving worry and generalized anxiety disorder-related symptoms in older participants from underserved, low-income, mostly minority neighborhoods who had significant worry and were interested in psychosocial treatment were effective at 6 and 9 months.•The main finding was that both interventions (one a cognitive behavioral therapy with resource counseling to address basic unmet needs, facilitation of communication with primary care providers about worry/anxiety, integration of religion/spirituality, person-centered flexibility in skill content and delivery and nontraditional community providers and the other an enhanced model of standard community-based information and resource counseling that addressed both basic unmet needs and mental health needs) resulted in similar and significant improvements.•The meaning of the finding is that community-based outreach and worry/anxiety screening are needed in underserved populations and that either or a combination of these interventions might be suitable for older adults with identified worry/anxiety. To determine whether Calmer Life (CL) improved worry, generalized anxiety disorder-related (GAD-related) symptoms, anxiety, depression, sleep, trauma-related symptoms, functional status, and quality of life better than Enhanced Community Care with Resource Counseling (ECC-RC) at 6 months and 9 months. A randomized, controlled, comparative-effectiveness study involving underserved, low-income, mostly minority neighborhoods in Houston, Texas, looked at individuals ≥50 with significant worry and interest in psychosocial treatment. Interventions were CL, cognitive behavioral therapy with resource counseling, facilitation of communication with primary care providers about worry/anxiety, integration of religion/spirituality, person-centered skill content and delivery and nontraditional community providers, ECC-RC, and enhanced standard community-based information/ resource counseling addressing basic unmet and mental health needs. Primary outcomes were worry and GAD-related symptom severity. Secondary outcomes were anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, trauma-related symptoms, functional status, quality of life, service use and satisfaction. Similar, moderate improvements followed CL and ECC-RC on worry, GAD-related symptoms, anxiety, depression, sleep, trauma-related symptoms, and men