Evaluating the RelAte Mealtime Program as an Intervention to Treat Social Isolation and Improve Cooking Behaviour Among Older Adults Living Alone

NCT ID: NCT02007551

Last Updated: 2015-05-27

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 100 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2013-05-31
• Study Completion Date: 2015-05-31

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a psychosocial and nutritional intervention, entitled "RelAte", on cooking and mealtime behaviours of older adults who are living alone and at risk of social isolation. The intervention will be delivered in the home of participants by a trained volunteer of a similar age.

Detailed Description

The trial employs a randomised controlled trial design to evaluate the impact of a novel mealtime intervention for older adults who are living alone and may be at risk of social isolation. The intervention combines social interaction, cooking, and shared mealtime behaviour, as well as nutritional education, in a once-weekly, mealtime visit, delivered by a peer volunteer. RelAte is grounded in psychological theory. It is expected that the RelAte intervention will have a beneficial impact on self-efficacy and on energy intake among participants. As an additional point, we will be looking at whether the intervention also impacts on physical and mental health among older adults over time. RelAte involves sharing a mealtime with a trained peer volunteer once a week for 8 weeks, as well as sharing the cooking and food preparation associated with the meal. The one-to-one intervention comprises social, nutritional and cooking components, and can be described as a complex intervention.

The intervention will run for 8 weeks and each participant will be matched with a peer volunteer for the duration. At baseline and at three follow-up points, participants will undergo a social cognitive, and nutritional assessment, as well as physical and mental health assessments, to ascertain whether the intervention has a lasting impact on defined primary outcomes. Participant outcomes will also be compared with the control group to assess the impact of the intervention. Volunteers will also undergo an assessment to investigate whether being a volunteer in an intervention has positive impact on psychological wellbeing and social connectedness.

Primarily the intention is to improve self-efficacy and energy intake among older adults, thus maintaining or improving general functioning, rather than treating an existing condition or syndrome. Thus the intervention aims to optimise functioning in older adults rather than to treat a pre-existing condition.

Conditions

Social Isolation; Meals

Study Design

• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Mealtime Intervention

The mealtime intervention group will receive a trained peer volunteer to their home once weekly for 8 weeks to prepare and share a meal with them.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Mealtime Intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The mealtime intervention constitutes once a week visits from a trained volunteer for 8 weeks, each visit lasting 90 minutes and comprising of preparing and sharing a meal together with the participant.

Interventions

Mealtime Intervention

The mealtime intervention constitutes once a week visits from a trained volunteer for 8 weeks, each visit lasting 90 minutes and comprising of preparing and sharing a meal together with the participant.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Living alone
• Aged over 60
• Screen positive for Social Isolation (Lubben & Gironda, 2004).

• Provision of two character references
• Aged over 55
• Undergoes Garda (police) vetting to the satisfaction of the research team

Exclusion Criteria

• Screen positive for cognitive impairment using the TCogS (Telephone Cognitive Screen; Newkirk et al., 2004).
• Stroke
• Epilepsy
• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar affective disorder
• Recurrent psychotic depression
• Alcohol and drug abuse within the past 5 years
• Anti-convulsants
• Anti-psychotic medications
• Significant hearing difficulties even when wearing hearing aid
• Illness that caused permanent decrease in memory or other mental function
• Blood borne infectious diseases
• Contact based infectious diseases
• Airborne infectious diseases

Peer Volunteers

• Screen positive for cognitive impairment using the TCogS (Newkirk et al., 2004)

• Minimum Eligible Age: 55 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Home Instead Inc

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Dublin, Trinity College

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Joanna McHugh

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Sabina Brennan, B.A., Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Dublin, Trinity College

Locations

Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin

Dublin, , Ireland

Countries

Ireland

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Other Identifiers

RelAte-12122

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id