Beyond Older Adults' Reablement. Version 2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Title: Routine referrals to third sector organisations following reablement to target loneliness among older adults aged 65years and over.
IRAS ID
339431
Contact name
Doreen Caesar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Northampton Faculty of Health, Education & Society
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 31 days
Research summary
Background
The population of older adults is increasing in England and Wales with the last census in 2021 indicating 11 million of the population being 65years and over (Office of National Statistics, 2021) compared to 8.3 million in 2001. Older adults will be used to represent those aged 65years and over for this study. An ageing population however comes with increased hospital admissions relating to increased healthcare needs. This has resulted in the use of reablement (relearning skills for activities of daily living following ill health) to facilitate discharges from hospitals and prevent admissions. Reablement however appears to be having an unintended cause of loneliness among older adult recipients who do very well.
Research Question
In the care of older adults aged 65 years and over discharged as independent from ICT, does routinely referring to third sector organisations reduce their loneliness risk and recurrent hospital admissions?
The research is expected to provide evidence for change in current discharges of older adult patients of the team post reablement.
It is also expected to evidence the inclusion of loneliness in the holistic assessment of patients and build a case for the inclusion of a social prescriber in the team.
A mixed methods approach of quantitative and qualitative studies in three phases. The first phase will be a compilation of third sector organisations in the county followed by an involvement of a patient and public interest group in designing interview questions for the final phase. The final phase will be a feasibility study of routinely referring the older adult intervention group to the identified third sector organisations following discharge with the control group being discharged without further action. A sample of participants will be interviewed pre and post the intervention from both groups. The study is expected to last for 6months.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EM/0159
Date of REC Opinion
4 Sep 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion