TY - JOUR
T1 - A Protocol for Enhancing Allied Health Care for Older People in Residential Care
T2 - The EAHOP Intervention
AU - Isbel, Stephen
AU - D'Cunha, Nathan M
AU - Wiseman, Lara
AU - Dawda, Paresh
AU - Kosari, Sam
AU - Pearce, Claire
AU - Fearon, Angela
AU - Sabeti, Faran
AU - Hewitt, Jennifer
AU - Kellett, Jane
AU - Naunton, Mark
AU - Southwood, Helen
AU - Logan, Pip
AU - Subramanian, Ramanathan
AU - Chadborn, Neil H
AU - Davey, Rachel
AU - Bail, Kasia
AU - Goss, John R
AU - Ambikairajah, Ananthan
AU - Lincoln, Michelle
AU - Holloway, Helen
AU - Gibson, Diane
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 by the authors.
PY - 2025/2/6
Y1 - 2025/2/6
N2 - BACKGROUND: Complications due to frailty and injury after falls are a significant problem for people living in residential aged care. This can lead to a range of negative outcomes including poor physical, social, and psychological well-being. The Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety highlighted many aspects of care in residential aged care homes requiring improvement, leading to specific recommendations aimed at improving the outcomes in this area. This contributed to four recommendations calling for increased allied health interventions to meet the unmet needs in residential aged care. This intervention aims to implement and evaluate evidence-based allied health interventions for people living in residential aged care specifically relating to frailty, preventing falls, and maintaining engagement in everyday activities.METHOD: This is a pragmatic, non-randomised, pre-post design study where six groups of up to 10 residents of an aged care home will start the intervention at staggered times. The EAHOP intervention is an integrated application of a suite of allied health services (occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietetics, speech pathology, pharmacy, and optometry), with general practitioner involvement, using allied health assistants in an integrated transdisciplinary model of care. The baseline period is 6 weeks, and intervention is a maximum of 36 weeks with follow-up at 12 and 24 weeks. Primary outcomes measure changes in falls, frailty, and quality of life. A qualitative program evaluation will be completed as well as an economic analysis.CONCLUSION: The results of the study will provide information about the clinical, implementation, and effectiveness outcomes of this integrated, transdisciplinary allied health service model for people living in residential aged care. The results will be used to develop evidence-informed guidelines for residential aged care providers on the delivery of allied health services.
AB - BACKGROUND: Complications due to frailty and injury after falls are a significant problem for people living in residential aged care. This can lead to a range of negative outcomes including poor physical, social, and psychological well-being. The Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety highlighted many aspects of care in residential aged care homes requiring improvement, leading to specific recommendations aimed at improving the outcomes in this area. This contributed to four recommendations calling for increased allied health interventions to meet the unmet needs in residential aged care. This intervention aims to implement and evaluate evidence-based allied health interventions for people living in residential aged care specifically relating to frailty, preventing falls, and maintaining engagement in everyday activities.METHOD: This is a pragmatic, non-randomised, pre-post design study where six groups of up to 10 residents of an aged care home will start the intervention at staggered times. The EAHOP intervention is an integrated application of a suite of allied health services (occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietetics, speech pathology, pharmacy, and optometry), with general practitioner involvement, using allied health assistants in an integrated transdisciplinary model of care. The baseline period is 6 weeks, and intervention is a maximum of 36 weeks with follow-up at 12 and 24 weeks. Primary outcomes measure changes in falls, frailty, and quality of life. A qualitative program evaluation will be completed as well as an economic analysis.CONCLUSION: The results of the study will provide information about the clinical, implementation, and effectiveness outcomes of this integrated, transdisciplinary allied health service model for people living in residential aged care. The results will be used to develop evidence-informed guidelines for residential aged care providers on the delivery of allied health services.
KW - allied health
KW - allied health assistants
KW - care home
KW - falls
KW - frailty
KW - health services
KW - multidisciplinary
KW - nursing home
KW - quality of life
KW - residential aged care
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85217759479&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/healthcare13030341
DO - 10.3390/healthcare13030341
M3 - Article
C2 - 39942530
SN - 2227-9032
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Healthcare
JF - Healthcare
IS - 3
M1 - 341
ER -
