Clinical trial NCT02594527: Southampton Mobility Volunteer Programme
Official title: The Southampton Mobility Volunteer Programme to Increase Physical Activity Levels of Older Inpatients: A Feasibility Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Physical Activity
Keywords: Older people
Physical activity
Hospital
Lead sponsor: University of Southampton
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom
First posted: 2015-11-03
Enrollment: 120
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 70
Standard ages: OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

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.

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.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Feasibility of using trained volunteers to promote increased physical activity among hospitalised older people
timeFrame: 2 year
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Acceptability of using trained volunteers to promote increased physical activity among hospitalised older people
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: StepWatch Activity Monitor
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: GENEActiv accelerometer
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Elderly Mobility Scale
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Barthel Index
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Timed Up and Go test
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Mini-mental state examination
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Geriatric Depression Score
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Gait speed
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Euro-Qol
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Length of hospital stay
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Discharge destination
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Incidence of thrombotic events
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Incidence of pressure ulcer
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Short Form-36 General Health
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Feasibility assessed by number of volunteers trained
timeFrame: 2 years
measure: Feasibility study assessed by number of volunteers retained
timeFrame: 2 years
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Southampton
country: United Kingdom
facility: Academic Geriatric Medicine, University of Southampton
state: Hampshire
city: Southampton
country: United Kingdom
facility: University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
state: Hampshire
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Southampton
name: Stephen Lim, BM
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: 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.