Southampton Mobility Volunteer Programme

NCT ID: NCT02594527

Last Updated: 2021-05-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 120 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2016-02-29
• Study Completion Date: 2017-12-31

Brief Summary

Physical activity levels of hospitalised older inpatients is low and this results in many adverse health outcomes. Studies have shown that interventions designed to promote increased physical activity of older inpatients using paid staff have shown improvement in physical function of older inpatients, resulting in shorter hospital stay and reduced admissions to nursing home. This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using trained volunteers to increase physical activity of older people in hospital. Volunteers will be recruited and trained to encourage older inpatients to mobilise or perform chair-based exercises. Patients will be encouraged to walk or exercise with the volunteers twice a day during their hospital stay. Quantitative analysis will be conducted on the outcome measures. Patients, volunteers and staff members will also be interviewed to assess the acceptability of the intervention. This feasibility study will help inform a future controlled trial.

Detailed Description

Background: Previous research has shown that low mobility among older people in hospital is associated with poor health outcomes including worsening physical function and increasing dependence in activities of daily living. There is evidence that the implementation by hospital staff of a mobility or exercise programme for older people in the acute care setting is feasible with promising outcomes including improvement in physical function, shorter hospital stay and reduced nursing home admissions. However employing additional therapy or nursing staff is costly and there are well-recognised shortages of suitable applicants to recruit to these posts. Many National Health Service trusts have an established volunteer workforce and in Southampton trained volunteers have successfully assisted older inpatients at mealtimes.

Objective: This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using trained volunteers to increase physical activity levels of older people in hospital.

Methods and design: The first part of this feasibility study is the development with the therapy team of a training programme, based on existing literature and best practice, to ensure competency of volunteers in mobilising patients and encouraging physical exercise. The study will be conducted on 2 wards (1 male 1 female) within the Medicine for Older People department. Eligible patients will be encouraged by volunteers to mobilise or perform chair-based exercises, depending on their mobility status, at least twice a day for about 15 minutes each session. The recruitment and retention rates of volunteers will be analysed as will the physical activity interventions they were able to effect. The recruitment of patients, their physical activity and adherence to the intervention will be studied. Qualitative interviews and focus groups will be conducted to explore the views and experiences of the patients, volunteers and health care professionals involved in this study. Participants will be characterised including the measurement of physical activity levels using a StepWatch Activity Monitor and GENEActiv accelerometer. This feasibility study is not powered to show a statistical difference in the outcome measures but data from this study will determine the sample size for future controlled trials.

Discussion: Results from this study will provide valuable information regarding the use of trained volunteers to promote physical activity among older inpatients and the practicalities of implementing the intervention throughout the whole department.

Conditions

Physical Activity

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Volunteer-led physical activity sessions

Patient will receive volunteer-led physical activity sessions twice a day during admission.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Volunteer-led physical activity session

Intervention Type: OTHER

Participants will be encouraged by volunteers to walk or perform chair-based exercises during their stay in hospital

Interventions

Volunteer-led physical activity session

Participants will be encouraged by volunteers to walk or perform chair-based exercises during their stay in hospital

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• deemed appropriate by the medical team and therapists to receive a physical activity intervention by trained volunteers and able to mobilise with or without a walking aid.

Exclusion Criteria

• patients normally resident in a nursing home, or who were immobile prior to admission;
• patients who are in a side room for infection control reasons;
• palliative care patients;
• patients deemed inappropriate for the physical activity intervention by the medical or therapy teams.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 70 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Southampton

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Stephen Lim, BM

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Southampton

Locations

Academic Geriatric Medicine, University of Southampton

Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom

Countries

United Kingdom

References

Lim S, Ibrahim K, Dodds R, Purkis A, Baxter M, Rogers A, Sayer AA, Roberts HC. Physical activity in hospitalised older people: the feasibility and acceptability of a volunteer-led mobility intervention in the SoMoVe study. Age Ageing. 2020 Feb 27;49(2):283-291. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afz114.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 31566671 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

RHM MED1297

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id