Supporting Uptake of Evidence for Physical Activity in Older Adults With Complex Health Care Needs

NCT06894914 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: H25-03073
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 20
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Physically frail older adults often have chronic conditions that contribute to a higher chance of them being limited in daily activities and becoming dependent. Physical activity can help to better manage chronic conditions and prevent frailty. In this project, the counselling approach using the new Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines will be adapted for older adults at an early state of frailty. This new approach will be tested against the one in current use by physiotherapists. This ethics application will address the pilot implementation evaluation, including interviews and focus groups, conducted to refine the new approach.

Conditions

Frailty

Keywords

Physiotherapy; Physical activity; Sleep; Counselling

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Patient's daily time in moderate/vigorous physical activity (minutes/day)

  Minutes spent in moderate/vigorous physical activity per day

  6 months

Secondary Outcomes (19)

• Patient's daily time in moderate/vigorous physical activity (minutes/day)

  12 months

• Patient's daily time in light physical activity (minutes/day)

  6 months

• Patient's daily time in light physical activity (minutes/day)

  12 months

• Patient's daily time in sedentary behaviour (minutes/day)

  6 months

• Patient's daily time in sedentary behaviour (minutes/day)

  12 months

Study Arms (2)

24-hour Activity Counselling

EXPERIMENTAL

Participating physiotherapists will be trained to deliver counselling that focuses on increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, with a balance of activity, rest and sleep in a 24-hour day. Patients (n=4) of these physiotherapists will receive the 24-hour Activitiy Counselling

Behavioral: 24-hour Activity Counselling

Current Physical Activity Counselling

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participating physiotherapists will continue delivering counselling that focuses on achieving 150 minutes/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, which is the current practice. Patients (n=4) of these physiotherapists will receive the Current Physical Activitiy Counselling

Behavioral: 24-hour Activity Counselling

Interventions

24-hour Activity Counselling BEHAVIORAL

Physiotherapists will participate in the self-paced brief action planning (BAP) online training (2-4 hours long), followed by 2-3 hours of practice and feedback over the phone with an experienced BAP instructor. In addition, they will attend a 2-hour session with the research team on training around on prescribing physical activity while balancing with rest and sleep. Once training is complete the PT can start implementing the counselling approach with the older adult patients.

24-hour Activity Counselling; Current Physical Activity Counselling

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: Up to 99 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Eligible PTs are those who self-report at least 40% of their caseload is working with older adults and practice in the in the Greater Vancouver Area. In addition, they are willing to:
• participate in online training for the assigned physical activity counselling strategy
• be randomised to one of the counselling groups.

You may not qualify if:

• Older adults:
• are age \> 65 years
• live in the community
• have 1 or 2 of the deficits in the CHS index
• have \> 1 chronic conditions
• are able to walk 3 metres with or without an assistive device
• have a Mini-Mental State Examination score \> 24/30
• do not have a diagnosed psychiatric condition (e.g., depression)
• understand, speak and read English proficiently
• are willing to have their physiotherapy sessions audio-recorded
• are able to provide written informed consent.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of British Columbia: lead
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR): collaborator
• Arthritis Research Centre of Canada: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Arthritis Research Canada

Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Y 3P2, Canada

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Frailty; Motor Activity

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Linda Li, PhD

  University of British Columbia

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Linda Li, PhD

CONTACT

604-207-4020; lli@arthritisresearch.ca

Stephenie Therrien, BA

CONTACT

604-207-4053; stherrien@arthritisresearch.ca

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 23, 2025
• First Posted: March 25, 2025
• Study Start: January 30, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): January 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2027
• Last Updated: February 20, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, CSR
• Time Frame: TBA
• Access Criteria: Data will be provided in a de-identified format through a secure online repository, and access will require submission of a research proposal outlining the intended analysis and relevant ethics approvals.

Locations

CA (1)