Recovery from disability after geriatric-home rehabilitation versus standard of care: protocol for a pilot study in older persons with disability at hospital discharge. - 2025
Recovery from disability after geriatric-home rehabilitation versus standard of care: protocol for a pilot study in older persons with disability at hospital discharge.
Van Grootven, Bastiaan; van Dijk, Margreet; Islam, Farahet al.
2025 • In Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 11 (1), p. 87
ADL; Activities of daily living; Disability; Geriatric; Physiotherapy; Pilot study; Rehabilitation; Trial; Medicine (miscellaneous)
Abstract :
[en] [en] BACKGROUND: Currently, there is insufficient evidence supporting geriatric home rehabilitation after hospital discharge. Some studies demonstrate a positive effect, but meta-analytic evidence demonstrates uncertainty on the magnitude of the expected effect. Yet, evidence from other populations indicates that home rehabilitation could also be an effective strategy for older persons. Therefore, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of geriatric home rehabilitation in older persons discharged from the hospital with disability. Given the potential challenges in recruiting participants delivering the intervention, and executing other study procedures in a multi-centre study, we will first carry out a pilot study.
METHODS: The pilot study will commence with an initial start-up phase at two centres: UZ Leuven and CHU UCL Namur, Belgium. Up to three participants per centre will be included to test the procedures and assessments, excluding randomisation and intervention delivery. The study then progresses to the full pilot phase to evaluate and confirm the feasibility of the proposed trial. This pilot study will take place at the same two centres. The pilot study aligns with the design of the envisioned full trial, i.e. a pragmatic, multicentre, individually randomised superiority trial. A 1 to 1 allocation ratio will be used for the pilot. A total of 24 participants from the two centres will be recruited to investigate the pilot study objectives. The pilot endpoints will be used to determine the feasibility of recruitment and study procedures including data collection, assessments and delivery of the intervention (a 6-week program consisting of exercise sessions 3 times per week, 45 min each). The results from the pilot study will be discussed within the pilot study steering group. Progression criteria will be reviewed to determine if the study progresses to a full trial, and which adaptations are needed.
DISCUSSION: In case of a successful pilot, the study will progress to a full trial. The ambition of the full trial is to recruit 333 participants across 8 centres in Belgium, and to investigate the effectiveness of home rehabilitation for older persons discharged from the hospital with disability.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT06404138 on 08 May 2024.
Disciplines :
Geriatrics
Author, co-author :
Van Grootven, Bastiaan ; KU Leuven, Department of Public Health, Academic Centre for Nursing and Midwifery, Leuven, Belgium. bastiaan.vangrootven@unibas.ch ; Public Health, Institute of Nursing Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. bastiaan.vangrootven@unibas.ch
van Dijk, Margreet; Department of Physical Medicine, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Islam, Farah; KU Leuven, Department of Public Health, Academic Centre for Nursing and Midwifery, Leuven, Belgium ; Public Health, Institute of Nursing Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Coucke, Birgit; KU Leuven, Department of Public Health, Academic Centre for Nursing and Midwifery, Leuven, Belgium
Fieuws, Steffen; Department of Public Health, Leuven Biostatistics and Statistical Bioinformatics Centre, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Van Pottelbergh, Gijs; KU Leuven, Department of Public Health, Academic Centre of General Practice, Leuven, Belgium
Flamaing, Johan; Department of Geriatric Medicine, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium ; KU Leuven, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leuven, Belgium
Van Den Noortgate, Nele; Department of Geriatric Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
Velghe, Anja; Department of Geriatric Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
De Cock, Anne-Marie; Department of Geriatric Medicine, ZAS Hospital Network Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
Gillain, Sophie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences cliniques > Gériatrie
Meeuwissen, Joris; Department of Geriatric Medicine, East Limburg Hospital, Genk, Belgium
Bautmans, Ivan; Rehabilitation Research Group, Faculty of Physical Education & Physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Beckwée, David; Rehabilitation Research Group, Faculty of Physical Education & Physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
de Saint-Hubert, Marie; Geriatric Department, University Hospital Center UCL Namur, Godinne Site and Institute of Health and Society, UCL, Namur, Belgium
van Uffelen, Jannique; KU Leuven, Department of Movement Sciences, Faculty of Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences, Leuven, Belgium
Schoevaerdts, Didier; Geriatric Department, University Hospital Center UCL Namur, Godinne Site and Institute of Health and Society, UCL, Namur, Belgium
Tournoy, Jos; Department of Geriatric Medicine, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium ; KU Leuven, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leuven, Belgium
van Achterberg, Theo; KU Leuven, Department of Public Health, Academic Centre for Nursing and Midwifery, Leuven, Belgium
Recovery from disability after geriatric-home rehabilitation versus standard of care: protocol for a pilot study in older persons with disability at hospital discharge.
KCE - Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre UNIBAS - University of Basel
Funding text :
Open access funding provided by University of Basel This pilot study is an independent research study funded by the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre under the KCE Trials Programme (KCE22-1383). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre.
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