The impact of social action services on end of life experience v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
End-of-Life Social Action Study (ELSA): A randomised wait-list controlled trial and embedded qualitative case study evaluation assessing the causal impact of social action services on end-of-life experience
IRAS ID
173058
Contact name
Catherine Walshe
Contact email
Research summary
Background: There is a need to provide services which use social action models to support end-of-life care in community settings, and to robustly evaluate these models to determine if they influence the experience of end-of-life care. Such services could work to reduce isolation, help meet emotional needs and maintain a sense of connectedness to the community.
The Centre for Social Action, part of the Cabinet Office proposed an end-of-life care fund to support a spectrum of social action initiatives including befriending (e.g. companionship, emotional and peer support), practical support (e.g. house/garden work, walking pets, picking up prescriptions) and provision of information/navigation towards relevant services. This research is a robust evaluation of these projects.
Hypothesis: Receiving care from a social action volunteer service plus usual care significantly improves patient quality of life in the last year of life.
Study Design: A waitlist randomized controlled trial and a qualitative case study evaluation across 13 sites in England.
Methods: Patients will be randomly allocated to either receive the intervention straight away following any service related administrative procedures (intervention arm) or receive the intervention after a four week wait (wait-list arm). The impact of the intervention on end of life experience (i.e. quality of life, loneliness, social support and carer burden) will be measured using a pre-determined set of outcome measurement tools in the form of an A4 self-reporting questionnaire booklet. Repeated assessments will be carried out at weeks 4 and 8 for the intervention arm and weeks 4, 8 and 12 for the wait-list arm.
In selected sites (n=8) case study evaluation will include interviews, observation and documentary analysis to understand the mechanisms underpinning any found impact.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/YH/0090
Date of REC Opinion
12 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion