Abstract
BackgroundThe literature indicates that current home care service are largely task oriented with limited focus on the involvement of the older people themselves, and studies show that lack of involvement might reduce older people’s quality of life. Person-centred care has been shown to improve the satisfaction with care and quality of life in older people cared for in hospitals and nursing homes, with limited published evidence about the effects and meanings of person-centred interventions in home care services for older people. This study protocol outlines a study aiming to evaluate such effects and meanings of a person-centred and health-promoting intervention in home aged care services.Methods/designThe study will take the form of a non-randomised controlled trial with a before/after approach. It will include 270 older people >65 years receiving home care services, 270 relatives and 65 staff, as well as a matched control group of equal size. All participants will be recruited from a municipality in northern Sweden. The intervention is based on the theoretical concepts of person-centredness and health-promotion, and builds on the four pedagogical phases of: theory apprehension, experimental learning, operationalization, and clinical supervision. Outcome assessments will focus on: a) health and quality of life (primary outcomes), thriving and satisfaction with care for older people; b) caregiver strain, informal caregiving engagement and relatives’ satisfaction with care: c) job satisfaction and stress of conscience among care staff (secondary outcomes). Evaluation will be conducted by means of self-reported questionnaires and qualitative research interviews.DiscussionPerson-centred home care services have the potential to improve the recurrently reported sub-standard experiences of home care services, and the results can point the way to establishing a more person-centred and health-promoting model for home care services for older people.Trial registrationNCT02846246.
Highlights
The literature indicates that current home care service are largely task oriented with limited focus on the involvement of the older people themselves, and studies show that lack of involvement might reduce older people’s quality of life
This study focuses on older people receiving home care services (HCS) and aims to evaluate the effects and meanings of a person-centred and health-promoting HCS intervention
The study outlined in this protocol is the first to our knowledge that aims to evaluate effects and meanings of a person-centred and health-promoting intervention in home care services
Summary
The study outlined in this protocol is the first to our knowledge that aims to evaluate effects and meanings of a person-centred and health-promoting intervention in home care services. Taking the Social Service Act [67] as the point of departure, the National Board of Health and Welfare has formulated a set of national values as a basis for care delivery to older people [69] According to these values, care should be delivered in such a way that older people can feel independent, can be supported to lead an active and meaningful life in communication with others, can live according to their own desires, and can make decisions about their care and home. The intervention introduces an educational programme and a slightly new process in that person-centred health and care conversations are to be held with care recipients, and that these conversations are to be used as facilitating change in the way care is provided in those instances that this has been regarded as needed by the participating older people and relatives.
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