Preventing and Approaching Crises for Frail Community-dwelling Patients Through Through Innovative Care (PRACTIC)

This study is part of the larger PRACTIC (Preventing and approaching crises for frail community-dwelling patients through innovative care) study. This is a six-month cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT). The trial will be conducted in 30 municipalities including 150 frail community-dwelling participants receiving homecare services judged by the services to have imminent crises. The proposed sample of 150 participants is based on a power calculation with clusters of approximately 5 participants from each of the 30 municipalities. Each municipality will be defined as a cluster and will be randomized to receive either the locally adapted TIME intervention (the intervention group) or care as usual (the control group). TIME is a manual-based, multicomponent programme that will include a rigorous assessment of the crises, one or more interdisciplinary case conferences and the testing and evaluation of customised treatment measures. For the interviews in RQ3, the investigators will use a purposeful sample of approximately 15 dyads with 15 patients and next of kin from the intervention municipalities in the RCT

Specially trained nurses (data assessors) from the project's research centre who are not affiliated with the municipalities will, together with staff members in the home care services, assess patients' baseline characteristics before randomisation. The data assessors will assess the effect of the intervention via telephone by interviewing the participants, the next of kin and the staff members who know the patient best, at three months and six months after baseline assessments. The interviews will based on a semi-structured interview guide where the participants will be asked to reflect on two main themes.

To evaluate the effects of a bio-psychosocial intervention like TIME to prevent and resolve crises in a heterogenous population, there is a need for a goal-oriented outcome compromising this variability. The goal of the intervention and the outcome will necessarily vary from patient to patient. The investigators will therefore use a individual goal-oriented interview, the PRACTIC goal-setting interview (PGI), based on The Bangor Goalsetting Interview, BGSI.

Inclusion criteria

for patients:

• in need of home care services
• a score ≥5 on the Clinical Frailty Scale (indicating mild to severe frailty)
• perceived by the home care service as being in an unstable situation with a high risk for acute institutionalisation or showing resistance to care.

Exclusion criteria

for patients:

• expected short life expectancy (i.e., <4 weeks).

Inclusion criteria

for next of kin (for RQ3):

• being next of kin of a user of home care services who meets the above mentioned inclusion criteria
• regular contact with the patient (i.e., at least once a week).