The Southampton Mealtime Assistance Roll-out Trial

Study Overview
=================
Brief Summary
-----------------
The Southampton Mealtime Assistance Study aims to determine whether it is feasible and acceptable to introduce trained volunteers as mealtime assistants in five different departments of one large hospital.

Official Title
-----------------
The Southampton Mealtime Assistance Roll-out Trial

Conditions
-----------------
Volunteer Mealtime Assistants

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Behavioral: Volunteer mealtime assistance


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: Patients over the age of 70 years admitted to one of the wards under study Exclusion Criteria: Patients with active bowel pathology Patients in the terminal phase of their life Patients who are artificially fed (parenterally or enterally)

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 70 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
No

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Volunteer mealtime assistance<br>Trained volunteers will provide mealtime assistance to older hospital inpatients at one mealtime each weekday. | Behavioral: Volunteer mealtime assistance<br> <br> |

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Feasibility and acceptability of volunteer mealtime assistants in different hospital departments | Is it feasible to recruit and sustain sufficient volunteers to provide mealtime assistance across a large hospital trust? Are these volunteers acceptable to patients, relatives, and staff? This will be determined by recording the number of volunteers recruited, trained and assessed and by recording their activity, in numbers of mealtimes assisted per week and duration of volunteering. If a volunteer discontinues their role, the reasons will be identified for this. Acceptability will be assessed through qualitative methods- interviews with patients and relatives and focus groups with nursing staff and volunteers. | 16 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Changes in food choice and dietary intake before and after the introduction of volunteer mealtime assistants | The food choices and dietary intake of patients on the wards under study will be determined twice prior to the introduction of the volunteers and twice after their introduction. This will take place at the mealtime where the volunteers are assisting. The weight of meals served is portion controlled by the hospital caterers to within 10% of the stated weight. Therefore, using these stated weights and by measuring the leftover weight of food, we will calculate each patient's dietary intake at that mealtime. | 16 months | 
| Costs to the hospital trust associated with implementing a volunteer mealtime assistance programme | Staff costs in terms of time spent training and supporting volunteers will be recorded, as will any consumables required for the study. The costs will be totalled to provide an overall cost estimate of implementing a volunteer mealtime assistance programme. | 16 months | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
Volunteers, Mealtime assistance, Older adults, Nutrition, Nursing