OUTDOOR
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Outdoor Mobility After Hip Fracture: A Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial
IRAS ID
329085
Contact name
Emma Godfrey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN16147125
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 22 days
Research summary
Research Summary:
Why are we doing this study?
Only one in four people can go outdoors four months after breaking their hip. Helping people get back to going outdoors could lower their chances of new illness, loneliness, or needing more support from friends and family. This NIHR funded study wants to see if the NHS can better support people who break their hip to get back to going outdoors.
What will we do?
At four hospitals, we will invite 60 older people who broke their hip to take part. All 60 will get usual care. Half, selected by chance, will get extra care including:
1. A plan to help each of them get back to things they like to do outdoors on foot or with transport. A therapist will help them to practice going out and talk about the worry some have about falling again. Therapists will guide people to ask family and friends to help them practice going out.
2. Support to find community groups near their home to help them continue to go outdoors once therapist visits are over.
3. A video where other people talk about getting better after a broken hip.
The extra care will continue until the person is back doing what they like outdoors, six visits are completed, or when 12 weeks have passed.
We will collect information from people taking part, over the phone at the beginning, middle, and end of the study and again six months later.What will be next?
If this small study shows we can give this extra care in the NHS, and it may help patients, then we plan to do a larger study. The larger study will see if this extra care works to help older people get back to what they like to do outdoors and feel happier.
Summary of Results:
Background: National records show just one in four people get back to going outside four months after hip fracture. Helping people to go outside could lower chances of new illness, loneliness, or needing more support from family.
Aim: To see if it is possible for the NHS to support people after hip fracture to get back to going outside their home.
Methods: We invited older people with hip fracture to take part. All had usual care. Half, selected by chance, had extra ‘OUTDOOR’ care to try to help them get outside. A trained physiotherapist/occupational therapist provided up to six home visits and four telephone calls. They shared a patient recovery video, helped practice going outside, talked about overcoming worries about falling, advised to go out with family/friends, and helped find community groups for once ‘OUTDOOR’ ended. We collected information on who could take part. For those who took part, information was collected at the study beginning, middle, and end, and for some, six months later. We invited a small group of people to wear an activity monitor for 10 days at 4 time-points.
Key findings: 250 of 691 people with hip fracture could take part, 180 were invited, 39 took part, and 29 gave information at the end of the study. 99 ‘OUTDOOR’ sessions were done and 61% of in-person sessions practiced outdoor mobility and motivation. This was acceptable to people who took part and therapists. Seventeen safety events were noted, but none were linked to 'OUTDOOR'. Twenty-one people were invited to take part in the activity monitor part of the study, and 18 took part. They found it easy to use and acceptable.
Outputs: Training guides, a recovery video, papers and presentations, and plain English summaries were made.
Patient and public involvement (PPI): PPI shaped the design, materials, delivery, and dissemination.
Conclusion: It was possible for the NHS to support people with hip fracture to get back to going outside. Changes to the design need to be made before a bigger study could be run to see if ‘OUTDOOR’ improves outdoor mobility or not.
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EE/0246
Date of REC Opinion
30 Nov 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion