Older People’s Day Care - Feasibility
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Day Care Provision and service utilisation for older people with long term conditions - a comparison of socio economic and costs analysis. A pilot feasibility
IRAS ID
225323
Contact name
Mari Lloyd Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 0 days
Research summary
Research Summary
This study, will assess how community day care services can support older people living with more than one illness and how attending day care can affect how often other healthcare services e. g. GP, District Nurse, Hospitals etc are used. \nOlder people day care services provided in the community can help older people to link with the community, maintain their independence and quality of life. We know little about how to improve quality of life for people living with more than one health condition and little is known about how attending day care can help people. There have been suggestions that by attending day care, older people may not be admitted to hospital so often and may be able to live in their own home for longer before being admitted to a care home. If this is the case, this could have benefits for older people and their families and for health and social services as it would cost less for somebody to remain at home for longer. \nThis study will assess how attending day care for older people who have more than one condition can help themselves, their carers and how their use of health and social services vary according to whether they attend day care and where they live. People attending day care will be followed to see how attending day care can affect their wellbeing and quality of life. The study will compare their use of health care services before attending day care to see if it makes any difference to how often they use other services. The records of people of a similar age and level of need and who do not attend day care will be compared with those attending to see if there is any difference in their admission to hospital or nursing home.
Summary of Results
22 people attending day care services were recruited into the study from 2 different socio-economic areas. 12 from a less deprived area and 10 from a more deprived area. From the less derived area the average age of participant was 86 years and 8 (67%) were male. 58% were widowed and 33% were married. 67% lived alone and 33% lived with family. 36.4% had no qualifications, 45.5% had school/vocational qualifications and 18.2% had University qualifications. The average number of long-term conditions reported by the participant was 4.2 (range 2-10). From the more derived area average age of participant was 85 years and 3 (30%) were male. 80% were widowed and 20% were married. 70% lived alone and 30% lived with family. 50% had no qualifications, 40% had school/vocational qualifications and 10% had University qualifications. The average number of long-term conditions reported by the participant was 5.4 (range 2-10). There were no statistically significant differences between the key sample characteristics of the groups.
Participants completed health-related quality of life and loneliness questionnaires at baseline, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months. 6 completed to 12 month time point. 16 were lost to follow up due to death (1), illness (9), nursing home (3) or other (3). Attrition rate of 64%.
Participants from the most deprived group were more likely to report problems with self care and performing their usual activities. There was no difference between the groups on scores for pain/discomfort or anxiety/depression.
At the 9 months time-point, participants from the most deprived group were more likely to report higher levels of emotional loneliness.REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0199
Date of REC Opinion
12 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion