Food'to'Go - a Feasibility Study of Post-discharge Meals for Older Patients by the Use of ICT-technology

March 3, 2016 updated by: Tove Lindhardt Damsgaard, Herlev Hospital

Food'to'Go - a Feasibility Study of Post-discharge Delivery of Protein- and Energy-enforced Meals for Older Patients by the Use of ICT-technology

The research and Innovation program Food'n'Go - Empower aims to develop, test and implement a health technology solution for involvement and increased empowerment of elderly patients and their relatives. The focus is on frequent issues for this group of patients, in the first phase focusing on nutrition and physical activity. Later, the solution will include pain management, management of sleep problems, management of medication, prevention of confusion and coordination of the treatment and care course across sectorial borders. The technology is a tablet-computer, operated by the patient by means of a number of app-like software applications.

The program received in the summer of 2013 one of the Capital Region OPI funding for design and development of the prototype, which is now ready and looking very promising. The next step is a pilot feasibility study testing the usability and acceptability as well as effect during hospitalisation and at home after discharge. The present study - Food'to'Go investigates the intervention in the post-discharge period.

Aim The overall aim of Food'n'Go research- an innovation programme is to develop, test and implement innovative information technology solutions to increase participation and empowerment of older patients and their families, in relation to frequent problems during hospitalisation and the time after.

The aim for the substudy Food'to'Go is to test the feasibility and efficacy of ICT-supported energy- and protein-enforced home-delivered main and in-between meals on older patients, discharged from acute hospitalisation in medical wards. Hereunder:

  • Test the technology's relevance, suitability, acceptability and ease of use in relation to the target group
  • Test the communication loop between patient and kitchen, and relatives external access to the related website

Welfare and health technologies are often directed at solving problems and meeting the needs of society's most vulnerable groups, often not familiar with computers. We will, in addition to developing the technological solution, examine user-related barriers and preferences for health technology and try to find solutions that can increase older people's possibilities for using technology and achieve empowerment. The program incorporates research and innovation in an iterative process where research provides answers and solutions to the issues arising in relation to the development of the technology (innovation) and the use of it.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

36

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Denmark
      • Herlev, Denmark, 2730
        • Herlev Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years and older (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • are 65 years or older
  • are admitted to department of internal medicine, O
  • have a nutritional risc score of 3 or more
  • are discharged to own home
  • are able to participate in the project for 12 weeks
  • are able to read, write and understand Danish
  • live within a radius of 20 km radius from Herlev Hospital

Exclusion Criteria:

  • have food allergies or intolerance
  • are vegetarians
  • are terminally ill
  • are included in the RiSK project
  • are unable to communicate and co-operate on the use of the tablet computer

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Controle Group
Patients in the control group are undergoing the same measurements and records before discharge, and at six and twelve weeks, as the intervention group. The control group receives no special treatment or care after discharge.
Other: App for food delivery

Intervention: Tablet Computer

Patients in the intervention group receives a tablet upon discharge from the hospital. The tablet contains an app, which the patients in the intervention group can use for ordering meals for delivery from the kitchen at the hospital three times a week. The app also ask the patients to register their own dietary intake, and give them feedback on their daily energy and protein intake.

Baseline measurements and records are taken at prior to discharge from the hospital, and after six and twelve weeks.
Device: Tablet computer
Patients receive a tablet computer upon discharge. The tablet can be used for ordering food for delivery three times a week from the hospital kitchen.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The technology acceptability and ease of use in relation to the target group
Time Frame: 12 weeks

Method: Registration of how many participants used the technology, as well as registration of the number of problems caused by the technology not working or the participants in-ability to use it.

Interviews with patients
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Test of the communication loop between patient and kitchen
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Registration of the number of problems caused by lack of communication between devices, or between staff and participants.
12 weeks
Nutritional status
Time Frame: 12 weeks
BMI and weight
12 weeks
Functional levet
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Hand-grip strength and chair-stand-test
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Herlev Hospital

Collaborators

Tachista

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Tove L Damsgaard, Dr.Med.Sc., Herlev Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 20, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 16, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

October 20, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 4, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2016

Last Verified

March 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H-O-FNG-2014-1

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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