Assessment of rehabilitation potential
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessment of rehabilitation potential in frail older people in the acute healthcare setting: a mixed methods study.
IRAS ID
227288
Contact name
Alison Cowley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
2999, Research Registry
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The primary goal of rehabilitation is to enable individuals to maximise their participation in society through their daily activities. Clinicians increasingly recognise that this can be achieved with even the most physically and cognitively impaired adults. Therapists are often required to make decisions about a patient’s potential to respond to rehabilitation interventions as part of clinical practice. Decisions about ‘rehabilitation potential’ can determine what rehabilitation services, if any, an older patient with complex health and social care needs is able to access of part of NHS care. In the hospital setting therapists may have limited time to assess and work with patients, families and carers and the complexities of ageing may not always be fully appreciated. Yet no specific guidelines exist to help therapists make consistent or evidence-based decisions about rehabilitation potential.
This study aims to understand how therapists define and apply the concept of rehabilitation potential in clinical practice and to develop and test an assessment tool that will identify rehabilitation potential in older people in the hospital setting. The study comprises of three components; focus groups, a consensus questionnaire and a feasibility study. Participants in the focus groups and consensus will include clinicians, patients and carers, academics and commissioners. Participants will be asked to share their experiences, opinions and understanding of rehabilitation potential in a group setting held outside NHS premises. The consensus incorporates electronic questionnaires where participants will rate the extent to which they agree/disagree on the content of the assessment tool using a validated scale. The tool will be tested by physiotherapists and occupational therapists working on healthcare of the older people wards in an acute hospital trust on a cohort of patients identified as having complex needs, exploring the acceptability and tolerability of the assessment tool in clinical practice.
The study will last 24 months.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0356
Date of REC Opinion
3 Jan 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion