Reablement Intervention for Older Adults Conducted by a Multi Professional Home Rehabilitation Team

NCT03565614 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: IHR (Reablement)
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 240
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Background: People live increasingly longer and are expected to function independently in their own homes to a greater extent than before. This puts great demands on the support given to older persons living at home, to be efficient and provide good conditions for them to manage on their own and experience good health. Short time goal directed reablement delivered by a multidisciplinary team is expected to strengthen the functional capacity and quality of life, while home care-hours and thus municipal expenditures decline. Theoretical focus of this project is related to international classification of functionality and disability (ICF) in which participation are understood as engagement in life situations and related to the environment as well as the person. Reablement is expected to extend the time of independent and autonomous life for older persons while also reducing municipal costs of elder care. Aim: This research project measures the effects of reablement in terms of bio-psycho-social health among older people (65+). In addition, the project highlights older person's experiences of the intervention and the professional team´s experiences of working with reablement. Methods: This is a randomized controlled study of the intervention reablement performed by the multiprofessional team with controls receiving usual home care. The effects are measured by self-reported health and quality of life, physical capacity, and home care hours. Data are collected at inclusion (applying for home care), after the three months intervention and at six months. Interviews with users are performed after the intervention, and staff experiences through written narratives. Impact of results: This project will contribute with collecting possible evidence of reablement, and contribute with knowledge development of older persons' bio-psycho-social health and experiences.

Conditions

Rehabilitation by Recovery of Function

Keywords

reablement; older people; personal care services; rehabilitation; multimorbidity; disability

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in self-assessed overall life satisfaction

  Participants' overall life satisfaction ratings are included in the Health as Ability of Acting questionnaire (HACT; Snellman et al. 2011), which is based on Nordenfelt's theory of health (2004). These global ratings are made on a VAS scale, which is coded from 0 (very unsatisfied with life) to 100 (very satisfied with life).

  Change from baseline overall life satisfaction rating at 6 months

Secondary Outcomes (8)

• Change in self-assessed general health

  Change from baseline self-assessed general health ratings at 6 months

• Change in self-assessed health-related quality of life

  Change from baseline health-related quality of life ratings at 6 months

• Change in self-assessed mental health

  Change from baseline mental health ratings at 6 months

• Change in self-assessed health with respect to personal priorities

  Change from baseline self-assessed health with respect to personal priorities at 6 months

• Change in self-assessed activity performance satisfaction

  Change from baseline activity performance satisfaction ratings at 6 months

Other Outcomes (1)

• Number of home care hours needed at 6 months

  Home care hours needed at 6 months

Study Arms (2)

Reablement rehabilitation

EXPERIMENTAL

Reablement rehabilitation to maintain or increase the participants' physical, psychological and social functional abilities.

Behavioral: Reablement

Traditional home care

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

The traditional home care and required rehabilitation efforts as by the municipality's current practice.

Behavioral: Traditional home care

Interventions

Reablement BEHAVIORAL

Intensive home-based rehabilitation is delivered up to 3 months by an interprofessional team (nurse, enrolled nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker). The entire team completed a 5-week college course. The team negotiates goal-directed contents of the rehabilitation initiatives with the user. Each user is handled deliberately based on decisions in the team in cooperation with the care managers overarching goals in admitted services. All participants have personal contact persons, and these contact persons have twice the time per participant as compared to traditional home care. The interprofessional team also has regular meetings to discuss every participant, and all rehabilitation goals activities related to those are documented.

Reablement rehabilitation

Traditional home care BEHAVIORAL

Traditional home care and required rehabilitation efforts as by the municipality's current practice. Includes the same professions as is included in the reablement intervention, but the team has had no joint college course, does not use the systematic goal-directed and negotiated approach as the reablement intervention, and has about half the time per participant as compared to the reablement intervention.

Traditional home care

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• older adults, over 65 years
• residing in the central areas of Eskilstuna municipality
• applying for social care and services delivered by the municipality of Eskilstuna

You may not qualify if:

• life-threatening disease
• severe mental illness
• severe cognitive dysfunction
• other conditions that prevent the participants from expressing their will or desires

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Mälardalen University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Eskilstuna municipality, Care and social care service, Rehabilitation unit

Eskilstuna, Södermanland County, 63343, Sweden

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Gustafsson LK, Soderman M, Johansson C, Elfstrom ML. Interprofessional homebased reablement intervention for older adults in Sweden: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Geriatr. 2025 Apr 10;25(1):242. doi: 10.1186/s12877-025-05886-w.

  PMID: 40211212 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Lena-Karin Gustafsson, PhD

  Mälardalen University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Older adults (65+) applying for social care and services delivered by a municipality (Eskilstuna) in the county of Södermanland, Sweden. Presumptive participants are identified by the municipality care mangers. After informed consent, the users are randomized to either the intervention or control group. Exclusion criteria: Life-threatening disease, diagnosed mental illness, or severe cognitive dysfunction that would prevent the participant from expressing wants.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 18, 2017
• First Posted: June 21, 2018
• Study Start: January 1, 2016
• Primary Completion: June 5, 2019
• Study Completion: August 31, 2019
• Last Updated: November 18, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, CSR, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: The unidentified research material will be available for 10 years after the research results have been publicized and then destroyed.
• Access Criteria: If other researchers or authorities request access to the research material for review, Mälardalen University will examine the disclosure with accuracy. For example, the Privacy Act (2009: 40) will allow confidentiality of sensitive data is taken into account.

Locations

SE (1)