Clinical trial NCT06603610: Adaptation and Implementation of an Intensive Geriatric Service Worker (IGSW) Model of Care for Socially Isolated Older Adults
Official title: Adaptation and Implementation of an Intensive Geriatric Service Worker (IGSW) Model of Care for Socially Isolated Older Adults: a Pilot Randomized Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Older Adults
Social Isolation
Keywords: older adults
social isolation
Lead sponsor: Unity Health Toronto
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-09-19
Enrollment: 60
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 65
Standard ages: OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: In this study, participants will be randomly assigned to receive either the intervention or control treatment for up to 6 months. Participants in the intervention group will receive care from an intensive geriatric service worker (IGSW), who will help the participant:

(i) Coordinate community resources and actively support participants' instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) (e.g., linking participants with Meals-on-Wheels, taking participants to appointments) (ii) Advocate for support from home care for completing activities of daily living (ADLs) (iii) Implement patients' prioritized treatment recommendations made by healthcare professionals (e.g., supporting patients to purchase and install home safety equipment because this aligns with their values and preferences).

Participants in the control group will receive their usual care, along with a booklet containing information about locally available resources, such as those related to meal preparation, grocery delivery, housekeeping, pharmacies that deliver medicines, home care, and Wheel-Trans.

We are interested in learning about the number and demographic characteristics of participants we will be able to recruit to the study, who will remain in the study and who will be adherent to their prioritized treatment recommendations. We are also interested in learning about changes in participants' quality of life, proportion of IADLs being completed independently or with support, emergency department visit rate, and hospitalization rate at 3 and 6 months.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

(i) adults aged ≥65 years old (ii) socially isolated, defined as living alone (iii) identified by the multidisciplinary Acute Care of the Elderly team, Internal Consultation Team, or Elders' Clinic as having one or more instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) impairments (defined as per the Lawton IADL scale) that could be supported by the intensive geriatric service worker (iv) capable of consenting to study participation or have a substitute decision-maker who can provide consent on their behalf (v) able to understand and communicate in English (e.g., if a participant is hearing impaired, but they can lip read or hear sufficiently with a hearing aid, they will be included) or know someone who can help with translation (vi) living in a private dwelling (e.g., apartment, house, condominium) within a geographical catchment area (i.e., boundaries will be Bloor St, Don Valley Parkway, Lakeshore Blvd, and Yonge St) (vii) a patient of a family physician or nurse practitioner (or be willing to become a patient of a family physician or nurse practitioner).

Exclusion Criteria:

(i) live in a retirement home, long-term care home or shelter (because there is varying availability of resources to support patients' activities of daily living (ADLs) and IADLs in these settings and we want to implement the IGSW care model where we hypothesize that it will have the greatest impact (ii) do not have a fixed address (iii) are participating in another study (iv) are being transferred to a rehabilitation facility other than Providence Healthcare prior to discharge home (Providence Healthcare is a collaborating study site; our team has an ongoing research collaboration with the medical rehabilitation unit at Providence Healthcare \[where ACE and ICT medical consultation patients are transferred\]

Primary outcomes:
measure: Implementation Feasibility
timeFrame: Between 3 months to 1 year
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Quality of Life
timeFrame: 3 and 6 months
measure: Proportion of IADLs being completed independently or with support
timeFrame: 3 and 6 months
measure: Emergency department visit rate
timeFrame: 3 and 6 months
measure: Hospitalization rate
timeFrame: 3 and 6 months
measure: Long-term care home admission rate
timeFrame: 3 and 6 months
measure: Length of hospitalization
timeFrame: 6 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
References: