Enhancing existing formal home support to improve and maintain functional status in older adults.

Ireland has an increasing ageing population and this has created the need for better and more integrated health and social care services. The benefits of physical activity for all ages are widely known. Physical activity programmes have been shown to improve older adults’ health and well-being and reduce falls, enabling the older adult to live independently and maintain their functional status. Given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on older adults (cocooning) and the well-documented preference of individuals to remain living at home, enhancing community-based care services is a priority for health care planners. Home support (formally called Home Help) currently supports over 50,000 older adults in Ireland and may provide an opportunity to enhance physical activity. However, there is a lack of high quality research around physical activity in the person’s own home when they are transitioning to frailty and receiving home support services. We looked at the feasibility of providing a novel approach to promote movement and empower older people to move more during packages of care and everyday living. Both the physiotherapist and the home care support worker worked together to help the older person to be more physically active at home.

We looked at the feasibility of introducing the Care to Move (CTM) programme, and more importantly - how much older people liked it. We included people’s experiences and opinions of the programme - described as qualitative research. We also looked at how CTM could be delivered to older people at home, and what it cost, this is important information for those who plan services.

Award Date

26 April 2022

Award Value

€4,912.50

Principal Investigator

Professor Frances Horgan

Host Institution

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Scheme

Conference and Event Sponsorship Scheme