An interventional study of Supporting Older Adults Remotely (SOAR) and Peer support as usual in Severe Mental Illness, sponsored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 50 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-21.
Sponsored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
The Supporting Older Adults Remotely (SOAR) study is a randomized controlled trial evaluating a 12-week, telephone-delivered peer support intervention for adults age 50 and older with serious mental illness who live in supportive housing. SOAR is designed to support aging in place and improve independent living skills through structured peer support focused on medication adherence, medical and psychiatric self-management, coping, goal setting, healthcare navigation, social relationships, self-advocacy, and connection to community resources. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either SOAR or Peer Support as Usual. Participants will complete assessments at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months. The study will also examine factors that may help or hinder implementation and sustainability of SOAR in supportive housing.
Supporting Older Adults Remotely (SOAR) is a Type 1 Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured, telephonic, peer-delivered intervention to support aging in place among older adults with serious mental illness (SMI) residing in supportive housing.
Older adults with SMI experience high rates of medical comorbidity, earlier onset of disease, and premature mortality. Existing integrated medical and psychiatric self-management interventions may be difficult to implement because of their operating costs, long intervention duration, and workforce requirements. SOAR was developed in partnership with Certified Older Adult Peer Specialists to address these barriers through a structured intervention delivered remotely by telephone.
The study will evaluate whether SOAR improves independent living skills compared with Peer Support as Usual. The study will also examine medication adherence, medical self-management, and psychiatric self-management as potential mechanisms of change. Implementation research will identify barriers and facilitators to implementation and sustainability of SOAR in supportive housing, including factors related to peer-delivered telephonic care and reimbursement.
The randomized trial uses two levels of randomization. First, Peer Specialists will be randomized to receive SOAR training or no additional training beyond their foundational peer certification. Second, study participants will be individually randomized to an interventionist delivering either SOAR or Peer Support as Usual using a computerized permuted block design to ensure equal allocation. Interventionists will deliver only one model of care, and supervisors will provide arm-specific supervision to reduce contamination between conditions.
SOAR is a manualized 12-week intervention delivered one-on-one by Certified Older Adult Peer Specialists by telephone. The intervention incorporates evidence-based strategies and peer lived experience and focuses on areas including medication management, medical and psychiatric self-management, coping, goal setting, values clarification, healthcare navigation, social relationships, self-advocacy, and connection to community resources. Participants may participate using a landline, flip phone, or smartphone; an app-based interface is not required.
Peer Support as Usual consists of routine peer support delivered by Peer Specialists who do not receive SOAR training. Peer support includes listening, sharing lived experience, role modeling, goal support, discussion of progress, and referral consistent with usual peer services.
Quantitative assessments will be conducted longitudinally. Analyses will compare the two randomized conditions using mixed-effects models appropriate to the outcome distribution and repeated assessments and will account for clustering of participants within interventionists and site variation. Covariates will include psychiatric symptom severity, cognitive functioning, poverty level, psychiatric diagnosis, medical comorbidity, and frequency of health service utilization.
Mechanism analyses will evaluate whether changes in medication adherence, medical self-management, and psychiatric self-management are associated with subsequent independent living skills. Longitudinal mediation models will account for clustering of participants within interventionists. Clinically meaningful change in independent living skills will also be examined using the prespecified range described in the protocol.
The implementation component will use the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to examine barriers and facilitators to implementation and sustainability. Qualitative interviews will include Peer Specialists, trial participants, administrators, and policymakers. Stratified purposive sampling will support representation across stakeholder groups and characteristics relevant to implementation, including race/ethnicity, cognitive functioning, and language preference. Interviews will be audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research together with emergent themes.
Intervention fidelity will be monitored throughout the study. The fidelity team will review the first three weekly SOAR meetings for each Peer Specialist and subsequently review a randomly selected sample of SOAR meetings. Peer Support as Usual will also be assessed for the presence of SOAR strategies as an additional contamination check. Booster training will be provided as specified in the protocol to minimize interventionist drift.
2,148 studies on the registry are indexed under Mental Disorders; 425 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 60 is below the median of 96 across 1,607 interventional studies indexed under Mental Disorders.
Browse Mental Disorders studies →Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is the lead sponsor of 486 studies on the registry; 69 are open to participants now.
Of its 31 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 21 (68%) have results posted.
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Participants will be eligible for Peer study participation if they:
Participants will be eligible for resident participation if they:
Exclusion Criteria:
Peer Specialists will be excluded for:
Participants will be excluded for:
Participants receive SOAR, a structured, manualized 12-week, one-on-one peer support intervention delivered by telephone. SOAR is delivered by Certified Older Adult Peer Specialists and incorporates evidence-based aging-in-place strategies and peer lived experience. The intervention focuses on medication management, medical and psychiatric self-management, psychoeducation, coping, goal setting and values clarification, healthcare navigation, social relationships, self-advocacy, and connection to community resources. Participants may use a landline, flip phone, or smartphone; an app is not required. Participants complete study assessments at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months.
Behavioral: Supporting Older Adults Remotely (SOAR)
Participants receive Peer Support as Usual, consisting of 12 weekly peer support meetings delivered by telephone. Peer Support as Usual is provided by Certified Older Adult Peer Specialists who have foundational peer support training and do not receive SOAR training. Sessions do not require a structured agenda and include routine peer support services such as action planning, person-centered support, communication, recovery support, advocacy, and trauma-informed peer support. Participants have up to 5 months to complete the 12 sessions. Participants complete study assessments at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months.
Behavioral: Peer support as usual
SOAR is a structured, manualized, 12-week telephonic intervention delivered by Certified Older Adult Peer Specialists through 12 weekly, one-hour individual sessions. The intervention is designed to promote aging in place among older adults with serious mental illness. SOAR uses evidence-based strategies including goal setting, life review, psychoeducation, social skills training, coping skills training, patient education, peer support, self-advocacy, problem solving, medication management techniques, independent living skills training, and sharing lived experience of aging with mental health challenges. Participants have up to 5 months to complete the 12 sessions.
Peer Support as Usual consists of 12 weekly peer support meetings delivered by telephone by Certified Older Adult Peer Specialists. The intervention does not require a structured agenda and provides routine peer support services. Peer Specialists are already trained in foundational peer support, including action planning for prevention and recovery, person-centered service planning, communication skills, human and patient rights, recovery, advocacy, and trauma-informed peer support. Participants have up to 5 months to complete the 12 sessions.
Independent Living Skills Survey (ILSS) Score
Independent living skills will be measured using the Independent Living Skills Survey (ILSS), a measure of community functioning and independent living skills among individuals with serious mental illness. The study will evaluate differences in ILSS scores between participants assigned to SOAR and Peer Support as Usual over time. Scores range from 0 to 70 for the standard self-report version, with higher scores indicating better independent living skills and functioning.
Time frame: Baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months
Medical self-management
Medical self-management will be assessed using the Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices Scale (SRAHPS), a 28-item measure of self-perceived ability to perform health-promoting behaviors. Total scores range from 0 to 112, with higher scores indicating greater self-efficacy and ability to perform health practices. . The study will compare changes in medical self-management between participants assigned to SOAR and Peer Support as Usual.
Time frame: Baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months
Psychiatric self-management
Psychiatric self-management will be assessed using the Illness Management and Recovery Scale (IMRS), a 15-item measure of illness self-management and recovery among individuals with serious mental illness. Total scores range from 15 to 75, with higher scores indicating better illness management and recovery. The study will compare changes in psychiatric self-management between participants assigned to SOAR and Peer Support as Usual.
Time frame: baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months
Medication adherence
Medication adherence will be assessed using the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS),a 10-item self-report measure of medication-taking behavior and attitudes toward medication. Total scores range from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater medication adherence. Bridge on-site pharmacy records reporting pharmacy pick-up and pharmacist in-person administration will also be utilized. The study will compare changes in medication adherence between participants assigned to SOAR and Peer Support as Usual.
Time frame: baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months
Plan to share: No
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Start is estimated for Dec 2026; primary completion for Dec 2028, 24 months later.
Of 841 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Mental Disorders, half reached primary completion within 29 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 13 and three quarters within 45. This study's planned 24 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 856 studies reached it within 29 months; a quarter within 13 and three quarters within 45.
Mental Disorders covers many different conditions, not one, so the studies compared here vary widely. Read these figures as a rough guide.
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From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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