Implementing CAPABLE in PSH

Implementing CAPABLE in Permanent Supportive Housing

This pilot project seeks to implement an intervention known as CAPABLE (Community Aging in Place-Advancing Better Living for Elders) for formerly homeless adults living in permanent supportive housing. This home-based intervention that consists of time-limited services (no more than 6-months) from an occupational therapist, a nurse, and a handyman is intended to improve functioning and decrease falls among this population that prematurely ages and is at increased fall risk.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Frailty; Activities of Daily Living; Accidental Fall; Housing Problems
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: CAPABLE: Community Aging in Place-Advancing Better Living for Elders

Detailed Description

Permanent supportive housing (PSH) using a housing first approach is an evidence-based intervention to end chronic homelessness by providing low-barrier affordable housing paired with flexible health and social services. In Los Angeles County (LAC), where the number of PSH units is expected to increase dramatically over the next 10 years, clinical guidelines and/or standards for support services are lacking. This is especially problematic given the that the target population is older and prematurely aging. The chronically homeless population in the United States has an average age approaching 60 years old and experiences accelerated aging, including an elevated prevalence of geriatric syndromes such as functional impairment, falls, and urinary incontinence that can jeopardize PSH tenants' ability to live independently and age in place. Current support services are not equipped to address these needs, which ultimately jeopardizes the success of PSH to maintain high rates of housing stability while tenants "age in place."

The investigators propose conducting a pilot project to implement the CAPABLE model in PSH. CAPABLE, which stands for "Community Aging in Place-Advancing Better Living for Elders" is a client-directed home-based intervention that consists of time-limited services (no more than 6-months) from an occupational therapist, a nurse, and a handyman working collaboratively with the older adult client. CAPABLE was developed to target older adults who are returning to independent living after hospitalization and has been shown to improve functioning (activities of daily living - ADLs and instrumental activities of daily living - IADLs), decrease falls and nursing home admissions, and reduce healthcare costs based on multiple studies including several randomized control trials. CAPABLE has the potential to be used in PSH as a model of support services that can address needs of prematurely aging tenants, which could help transform PSH from an intervention that ends homeless to an intervention that addresses homelessness and supports successful aging in place.

The specific aims of this study are to:

1. Examine the impact of CAPABLE on PSH client outcomes (e.g. ADLs, IADLs, falls). This aim will be accomplished using a pre-/post-design with a wait-list control group.
2. Determine what adaptations, if any, need to be made to implement CAPABLE in PSH. The investigators will accomplish this aim using the Dynamic Adaptation Process (DAP) implementation approach, which was designed to allow for an evidenced-based practice to be adapted in a planned and considered, rather than ad hoc, manner.

Important to note is that this project was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic so that adaptations to CAPABLE may be due to the context of the pandemic as opposed to being implemented in PSH.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90021
      • Skid Row Housing Trust

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 50 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Older than 50 years in age
• cognitively intact or have only mild cognitive impairment
• have some or a lot of difficulty performing ADLs
• tenant of Skid Row Housing Trust

Exclusion Criteria:

• see above

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: CAPABLE; CAPABLE Intervention

Behavioral: CAPABLE: Community Aging in Place-Advancing Better Living for Elders; CAPABLE is a client-directed home-based intervention that consists of time-limited services from an occupational therapist, a nurse, and a handyman working collaboratively with the older adult client. In most cases, the OT makes 6 visits, the RN makes 4 visits, and a handyman makes 1 to 2 visits to make any modifications to a person's home during a 6-month period. The first visits for the OT and RN are usually 90 minutes each and the later ones are usually an hour each. Visits are spaced to enable older adults to practice new strategies learned in the previous visit. There should be a clear "conclusion/graduation," with the older adult understanding how to use their new skills and apply them to future situations.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Activities of Daily Living Limitations Score	The modified Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Index is an 8-item questionnaire that was completed by participants to rate their ability to perform daily activities, such as bathing, toileting, eating, and dressing, across a 5-point Likert scale (1 = no difficulty, 2 = a little difficulty, 3 = moderate difficulty, 4 = a lot of difficulty, 5 = unable to do). Items are summed to obtain a score with minimum and maximum values of 8 to 40, respectively, whereby higher scores represent greater difficulty performing ADLs.	Change of ability to perform activities of daily living from baseline to 6-month follow up (post-intervention).
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Score	The Brief Instrumental Functioning Scale will be used to assess ability to perform in six functions: bathing, dressing, going to toilet, transferring, continence, and feeding. Each area is assessed on a five point scale; participants rated their ability to perform daily tasks on a 5-point scale (1 = no difficulty, 2 = a little difficulty, 3 = moderate difficulty, 4 = a lot of difficulty, 5 = unable to do). Items are summed to obtain a score with minimum and maximum values of 8 to 40, respectively, whereby higher scores represent greater difficulty performing ADLs.	Change of ability to perform IADLs from baseline to 6-month follow up (post-intervention).
Depression	Eight of the nine items in the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were used to measure depression, rated on a 4-point scale of how frequently participants were bothered by the eight problems during a 2-week period (0 = not at all, 1 = several days, 2 = more than half the days, and 3 = nearly every day). Items are summed to obtain a score with minimum and maximum values of 0 to 24, respectively, whereby higher scores represent greater depressive symptoms.	Change in depression symptoms from baseline to 6-month follow up (post-intervention).
Falls Efficacy	Participants rated their confidence they could do each of 10 activities without falling on a 10-point scale, with total scores ranging from 10 (not very confident) to 100 (very confident) using the Tinetti Falls Efficacy Scale. Thus, higher scores indicate greater efficacy related to falls.	Change of falls efficacy from baseline to 6-month follow up (post-intervention).
Pain Interference With Usual Activities	Pain interference with usual activities was assessed using an item from the 3-item PEG to assess average pain intensity (P), interference with enjoyment of life (E), and interference with general activity (G) on a 10-point Likert scale from 0 (does not interfere) to 10 (completely interferes).	Change in the degree that pain interferes with usual activities from baseline to 6-month follow up (post-intervention).
Number of Falls in the Past Year or 6 Months	Mean number of falls to the ground during the past year.	Number of falls in the past year reported at 6-month follow up.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-rated Health	Self-rated health was measured on a 5-point scale (1 = excellent, 2 = very good, 3 = good, 4 = fair, 5 = poor). A higher score indicates poorer self-rated quality of health.	Change in self-rated health from baseline to 6-month follow up (post-intervention).
Overall Quality of Life	Quality of life was assessed using a single item: "Overall, how would you rate your quality of life?" Response options ranged from 1 = worst possible quality of life to 11 = best possible quality of life. Thus, a higher value indicated greater self-rated quality of life.	Change in quality of life from baseline to 6-month follow up (post-intervention).

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion of Participants With Emergency Room Visits in Past 6 Months	History of emergency room visits during the past year assessed by asking: "How many times did you visit the emergency room in the past year (since the last survey)?	Proportion of participants with ER visits in past 6 months reported at 6-month follow up.
Number of Emergency Room Visits in Past 6 Months	History of emergency room visits during the past year assessed by asking: "How many times did you visit the emergency room in the past year (since the last survey)? Outcome is the mean number of ER visits in past 6 months.	Number of ER visits in past 6 months reported at follow up.
Proportion of Participants With Hospitalizations in Past 6 Months	History of hospitalization during the past year assessed by asking: How many times did you stay overnight in a hospital in the past year (since the last survey)?"	Proportion of participants with hospitalizations in past 6 months reported at 6-month follow-up
Number of Overnight Hospitalizations in Past 6 Months	History of hospitalization during the past year assessed by asking: How many times did you stay overnight in a hospital in the past year (since the last survey)?" Outcome measure is the mean number of overnight hospitalizations in past 6 months.	Number of overnight hospitalizations in past 6 months reported at 6-month follow up.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern California
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Benjamin F Henwood, PhD, University of Southern California

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 17, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 25, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): July 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 27, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 29, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): September 3, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 15, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 28, 2025
• Last Verified: May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Frailty
• Other Study ID Numbers: UP-19-00361

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

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