Bring Communities and Technology Together for Healthy Aging (ElderTree)

University of Wisconsin (UW)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Past Year History of Falls and/or Hospitalization; 65 Years Older; Requires IADL Support

Treatments: Other: Elder Tree website

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Other U.S. Federal agency; NIH

Identifiers

NCT02128789

2013-0171

5P50HS019917-04 (U.S. AHRQ Grant/Contract)

HS019917 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Technology has been created to help older adults age well in their homes, but adoption and acceptance have been slow. The researchers are developing a low-cost web-based technology, called Elder Tree, for older adults and caregivers to address key challenges older adults face, such as loneliness and isolation, falls, loss of driving privileges, relapsing from proven falls prevention strategies, and unreliable home services. Elder Tree is being developed and tested with older adults and caregivers to identify, 1) usability issues such as font size, navigation and interface (audio, video,text) and 2) content and tailoring issues such as identifying local resources and events. This study will employ a randomized longitudinal design comparing a control group to an intervention group over a 12-month period. Investigators hypothesize that older adults using Elder Tree will experience greater independence and quality of life when compared to the control group. Investigators will use quantitative measures to determine how much our intervention improves: quality of life and health system use. These measures will help us to determine the cost effectiveness of Elder Tree. Investigators will recruit and test Elder Tree in 3 Regional Aging and Disability Resource Centers; one urban, one suburban and one rural setting, so to account for environmental and community differences. The older adult and their caregiver will be randomized to the same treatment group. Investigators will measure the effect over the 12 month intervention period and a 6 month follow-up period at 18 months.

Enrollment: 600 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 65+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 65 years or older
• In need of IADL support
• 1 years history or risk of hospitalization or falls
• Resident of the following counties Milwaukee, WI, Waukesha Wi or Richland County
• Must be able to read English at a 6th grade level.

Exclusion criteria

• Under 65 years of age
• Unable to read English
• Not a resident of the above listed counties.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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600 participants in 2 patient groups

Control Condition

No Intervention group

Description:

Subjects receive usual care and support. No study intervention provided

Elder Tree Condition

Experimental group

Description:

Elder Tree website. Subjects receive usual care, support and access to the study intervention website.

Treatment:

Other: Elder Tree website