The Effectiveness of Reablement in Home Dwelling Older Adults. A Randomized Controlled Trial

Frode F. Jacobsen

Status: Completed

Conditions: Physical Disability

Treatments: Behavioral: Standard treatment; Behavioral: Reablement

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02043262

2012/295

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a special kind of rehabilitation offered to home-dwelling older adults is effective with regards to functional ability and municipal costs.

Full description

Early detection of functional decline among home dwelling older adults and immediate onset of rehabilitation, can improve function, and reduce or delay need for home-based assistance and nursing home placement. Towards year 2050 there will be a significant increase in number of elderly persons in Norway, with an urgent need for new models for early intervention and rehabilitation in order to give service to a larger amount of elderly persons. Reablement is a new and promising rehabilitation model which many Norwegian municipalities are implementing in order to meet current and future needs for municipal home-based services. However, very little research has been conducted regarding the effectiveness of this intervention. This study aims at assessing the effectiveness of reablement in terms of daily functioning and economic costs compared to standard home-based treatment and care.

The study will be conducted in the municipality of Voss in Western Norway, a municipality with only 14000 inhabitants. It is a double-blinded, block-randomized controlled intervention trial, recruiting home-dwelling older adults with an initial functional decline in daily activities. The intervention is intensive, multidisciplinary, home-based rehabilitation given by home-trainers, under supervision from an occupational therapist or a physiotherapist. The control intervention is standard home-based treatment and care.

Thirty participants will be recruited in each arm of the study. The participants will be assessed at baseline, and at 3-, and 9 months follow-up. Primary outcomes will be participation, activity, and municipal expenditures. Costs are generated by the working hours of the different professions. Hence, there will be a daily registration of the working hours different health care professions spend in the private homes of the participants.

Power calculations based on study with a similar target group using the instrument Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, estimate a need for only 21 participants in each group due to the longitudinal design. However, in order to account for possibilities of frailer target group or a large drop out rate (40 %), a total number of 30 participants in each group will be tried recruited. Data analyses will be performed according to intention to treat. The working hour data is panel data and will be analyzed accordingly; a random or a mixed effect regression model will be employed. Also, descriptive statistics and simpler tests will be carried out.

Enrollment: 61 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Home-dwelling person
• Applicant of home-based services
• Above 18 years old
• Functional decline in at least one activity
• Able to understand written and oral Norwegian

Exclusion criteria

• Cognitive disability
• Terminal ill
• Being assessed as needing nursing home placement
• Being assessed as needing institution-based rehabilitation

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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61 participants in 2 patient groups

Reablement

Experimental group

Description:

Reablement is an intensive, multidisciplinary, client-centered, home-based type of rehabilitation, where ordinary activities of daily living are used for rehabilitative purposes. It is a rehabilitation alternative that may be offered to older adults, although there is no lower age limit. An occupational therapist and physical therapist, or nurse, constitutes the key personal, while home helpers, assistants and others with lower education, are the ones who work rehabilitative with the older person on a daily basis focusing on self-help.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Reablement

Standard treatment

Active Comparator group

Description:

This arm consists of the standard treatment home-dwelling elderly persons receive when applying for home-based help. Some elderly may receive home-based nursing or home help services assisting them in daily activities, while others may receive occupational therapy or physical therapy measures for rehabilitative purposes.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard treatment