Southampton Mobility Volunteer Programme (SoMoVe)

The Southampton Mobility Volunteer Programme to Increase Physical Activity Levels of Older Inpatients: A Feasibility Study

Physical activity levels of hospitalised older inpatients is low and this results in many adverse health outcomes. Studies have shown that interventions designed to promote increased physical activity of older inpatients using paid staff have shown improvement in physical function of older inpatients, resulting in shorter hospital stay and reduced admissions to nursing home. This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using trained volunteers to increase physical activity of older people in hospital. Volunteers will be recruited and trained to encourage older inpatients to mobilise or perform chair-based exercises. Patients will be encouraged to walk or exercise with the volunteers twice a day during their hospital stay. Quantitative analysis will be conducted on the outcome measures. Patients, volunteers and staff members will also be interviewed to assess the acceptability of the intervention. This feasibility study will help inform a future controlled trial.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Physical Activity
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Volunteer-led physical activity session

Detailed Description

Background: Previous research has shown that low mobility among older people in hospital is associated with poor health outcomes including worsening physical function and increasing dependence in activities of daily living. There is evidence that the implementation by hospital staff of a mobility or exercise programme for older people in the acute care setting is feasible with promising outcomes including improvement in physical function, shorter hospital stay and reduced nursing home admissions. However employing additional therapy or nursing staff is costly and there are well-recognised shortages of suitable applicants to recruit to these posts. Many National Health Service trusts have an established volunteer workforce and in Southampton trained volunteers have successfully assisted older inpatients at mealtimes.

Objective: This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using trained volunteers to increase physical activity levels of older people in hospital.

Methods and design: The first part of this feasibility study is the development with the therapy team of a training programme, based on existing literature and best practice, to ensure competency of volunteers in mobilising patients and encouraging physical exercise. The study will be conducted on 2 wards (1 male 1 female) within the Medicine for Older People department. Eligible patients will be encouraged by volunteers to mobilise or perform chair-based exercises, depending on their mobility status, at least twice a day for about 15 minutes each session. The recruitment and retention rates of volunteers will be analysed as will the physical activity interventions they were able to effect. The recruitment of patients, their physical activity and adherence to the intervention will be studied. Qualitative interviews and focus groups will be conducted to explore the views and experiences of the patients, volunteers and health care professionals involved in this study. Participants will be characterised including the measurement of physical activity levels using a StepWatch Activity Monitor and GENEActiv accelerometer. This feasibility study is not powered to show a statistical difference in the outcome measures but data from this study will determine the sample size for future controlled trials.

Discussion: Results from this study will provide valuable information regarding the use of trained volunteers to promote physical activity among older inpatients and the practicalities of implementing the intervention throughout the whole department.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Hampshire
    • Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom, SO16 6YD
      • University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
    • Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom, SO16 6YD
      • Academic Geriatric Medicine, University of Southampton

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 70 years and older (Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• deemed appropriate by the medical team and therapists to receive a physical activity intervention by trained volunteers and able to mobilise with or without a walking aid.

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients normally resident in a nursing home, or who were immobile prior to admission;
• patients who are in a side room for infection control reasons;
• palliative care patients;
• patients deemed inappropriate for the physical activity intervention by the medical or therapy teams.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Volunteer-led physical activity sessions; Patient will receive volunteer-led physical activity sessions twice a day during admission.	Other: Volunteer-led physical activity session; Participants will be encouraged by volunteers to walk or perform chair-based exercises during their stay in hospital

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Feasibility of using trained volunteers to promote increased physical activity among hospitalised older people	Number of volunteers recruited	2 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Acceptability of using trained volunteers to promote increased physical activity among hospitalised older people	Established through interviews and focus groups among patients, volunteers and healthcare staff members.	2 years
StepWatch Activity Monitor	Mean step count	2 years
GENEActiv accelerometer	Mean acceleration in milligravity	2 years
Elderly Mobility Scale		2 years
Barthel Index		2 years
Timed Up and Go test		2 years
Mini-mental state examination		2 years
Geriatric Depression Score		2 years
Gait speed		2 years
Euro-Qol	Measure of quality of life	2 years
Length of hospital stay		2 years
Discharge destination		2 years
Incidence of thrombotic events		2 years
Incidence of pressure ulcer		2 years
Short Form-36 General Health		2 years
Feasibility assessed by number of volunteers trained		2 years
Feasibility study assessed by number of volunteers retained		2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southampton
• Collaborators: National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Stephen Lim, BM, University of Southampton

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Lim S, Ibrahim K, Dodds R, Purkis A, Baxter M, Rogers A, Sayer AA, Roberts HC. Physical activity in hospitalised older people: the feasibility and acceptability of a volunteer-led mobility intervention in the SoMoVe™ study. Age Ageing. 2020 Feb 27;49(2):283-291. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afz114.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 19, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 2, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): November 3, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 19, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 14, 2021
• Last Verified: May 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Physical activity; Hospital; Older people
• Other Study ID Numbers: RHM MED1297

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No