Southampton Mobility Volunteer Programme

Physical Activity Clinical Trial

— SoMoVe  

Official title:

The Southampton Mobility Volunteer Programme to Increase Physical Activity Levels of Older Inpatients: A Feasibility Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02594527
• Other study ID #: RHM MED1297
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 2016
• Est. completion date: December 2017

Study information

• Verified date: May 2021
• Source: University of Southampton
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Physical activity levels of hospitalised older inpatients is low and this results in many adverse health outcomes. Studies have shown that interventions designed to promote increased physical activity of older inpatients using paid staff have shown improvement in physical function of older inpatients, resulting in shorter hospital stay and reduced admissions to nursing home. This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using trained volunteers to increase physical activity of older people in hospital. Volunteers will be recruited and trained to encourage older inpatients to mobilise or perform chair-based exercises. Patients will be encouraged to walk or exercise with the volunteers twice a day during their hospital stay. Quantitative analysis will be conducted on the outcome measures. Patients, volunteers and staff members will also be interviewed to assess the acceptability of the intervention. This feasibility study will help inform a future controlled trial.

Description:

Background: Previous research has shown that low mobility among older people in hospital is associated with poor health outcomes including worsening physical function and increasing dependence in activities of daily living. There is evidence that the implementation by hospital staff of a mobility or exercise programme for older people in the acute care setting is feasible with promising outcomes including improvement in physical function, shorter hospital stay and reduced nursing home admissions. However employing additional therapy or nursing staff is costly and there are well-recognised shortages of suitable applicants to recruit to these posts. Many National Health Service trusts have an established volunteer workforce and in Southampton trained volunteers have successfully assisted older inpatients at mealtimes. Objective: This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using trained volunteers to increase physical activity levels of older people in hospital. Methods and design: The first part of this feasibility study is the development with the therapy team of a training programme, based on existing literature and best practice, to ensure competency of volunteers in mobilising patients and encouraging physical exercise. The study will be conducted on 2 wards (1 male 1 female) within the Medicine for Older People department. Eligible patients will be encouraged by volunteers to mobilise or perform chair-based exercises, depending on their mobility status, at least twice a day for about 15 minutes each session. The recruitment and retention rates of volunteers will be analysed as will the physical activity interventions they were able to effect. The recruitment of patients, their physical activity and adherence to the intervention will be studied. Qualitative interviews and focus groups will be conducted to explore the views and experiences of the patients, volunteers and health care professionals involved in this study. Participants will be characterised including the measurement of physical activity levels using a StepWatch Activity Monitor and GENEActiv accelerometer. This feasibility study is not powered to show a statistical difference in the outcome measures but data from this study will determine the sample size for future controlled trials. Discussion: Results from this study will provide valuable information regarding the use of trained volunteers to promote physical activity among older inpatients and the practicalities of implementing the intervention throughout the whole department.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 120
• Est. completion date: December 2017
• Est. primary completion date: October 2017
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 70 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• deemed appropriate by the medical team and therapists to receive a physical activity intervention by trained volunteers and able to mobilise with or without a walking aid.

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients normally resident in a nursing home, or who were immobile prior to admission;
• patients who are in a side room for infection control reasons;
• palliative care patients;
• patients deemed inappropriate for the physical activity intervention by the medical or therapy teams.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Physical Activity

Intervention

Other:
• Volunteer-led physical activity session
Participants will be encouraged by volunteers to walk or perform chair-based exercises during their stay in hospital

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United Kingdom	Academic Geriatric Medicine, University of Southampton	Southampton	Hampshire
United Kingdom	University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust	Southampton	Hampshire

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Southampton	National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United Kingdom, 

References & Publications (1)

Lim S, Ibrahim K, Dodds R, Purkis A, Baxter M, Rogers A, Sayer AA, Roberts HC. Physical activity in hospitalised older people: the feasibility and acceptability of a volunteer-led mobility intervention in the SoMoVe™ study. Age Ageing. 2020 Feb 27;49(2):2 — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Feasibility of using trained volunteers to promote increased physical activity among hospitalised older people	Number of volunteers recruited	2 year
Secondary	Acceptability of using trained volunteers to promote increased physical activity among hospitalised older people	Established through interviews and focus groups among patients, volunteers and healthcare staff members.	2 years
Secondary	StepWatch Activity Monitor	Mean step count	2 years
Secondary	GENEActiv accelerometer	Mean acceleration in milligravity	2 years
Secondary	Elderly Mobility Scale		2 years
Secondary	Barthel Index		2 years
Secondary	Timed Up and Go test		2 years
Secondary	Mini-mental state examination		2 years
Secondary	Geriatric Depression Score		2 years
Secondary	Gait speed		2 years
Secondary	Euro-Qol	Measure of quality of life	2 years
Secondary	Length of hospital stay		2 years
Secondary	Discharge destination		2 years
Secondary	Incidence of thrombotic events		2 years
Secondary	Incidence of pressure ulcer		2 years
Secondary	Short Form-36 General Health		2 years
Secondary	Feasibility assessed by number of volunteers trained		2 years
Secondary	Feasibility study assessed by number of volunteers retained		2 years