Patient Experience of Older Adults Living Alone With Injuries

Patient Experience of Older Adults Living Alone With Injuries and Long-Term Effects of Geriatric Trauma Care Program for Living Alone Older Adults With Injuries

This study aims to explore the patient experiences of living alone older adults with injuries, and to examine the effects of a "Geriatric Trauma Care Program" in older adults with limb injuries who live alone. A three-year design will be used to reach the purposes of this study. The first stage of this study will use descriptive phenomenology to get patient experiences of living alone older adults with injuries. In the second stage of this study, a two-arm experimental design will be used.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Trauma Injury; Geriatrics; Living Alone
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Geriatric Trauma Care Program

Detailed Description

Aim: This study aims to explore patient experience of living alone older adults with injuries, and to examine effects of a "Geriatric Trauma Care Program (GTCP)" in older adults with limb injuries who live alone.

Design: A two-stage design will be used to reach the purposes of this study. The first stage of this study will use descriptive phenomenology to get patient experiences of living alone older adults with injuries. In the second stage, a two-arm experimental design will be used to intervene the "GTCP" and evaluate its outcomes.

Methods: In the first stage, the study settings will be surgical outpatient departments at a university hospital. Purposive sampling will be used to select old adult patients with injury and living alone. Semi-structured and audio-taped interviews will be used as data collection method. About 15 to 20 participants are planned to be interviewed. Colaizzi's (1978) methods will be applied to data analysis. The findings will be used to modify the intervention for the second stage in this study.

In the second stage, a two-arm experimental design will be used. The participants will be older adults with limb injuries. The experiment group will receive the "GTCP" and routine care, and the control group will receive routine care only. The GTCP includes a two-session intervention named "Digital geriatric trauma care" and "Multiple training modalities". The two sessions will use an "age-friendly e-Book" and a "personalized-oriented App" as assistant materials. A three-time point data collection will be used including at hospital discharge, 1 month and 3 months after hospital discharges. The pre -and post- intervention measures will be five structured scales including pain, functional disability, geriatric depression, loneliness, and quality of life. The 2nd stage expects to collect 45 participants in each group. The experimental effects will be examined by the generalized estimating equations (GEEs) model.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 110
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Bih-O Lee, PHD; Phone Number: 2625 886-7-312-1101; Email: biholee@kmu.edu.tw

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
    • Recruiting
    • Kaohsiung Medical University
    • Contact: Bih-O Lee, PHD; Phone Number: 2625 886-7-312-1101; Email: biholee@kmu.edu.tw
  • Kaohsiung
    • Kaohsiung City, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 807
      • Recruiting
      • Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital
      • Contact: Bih-O BO Lee, Ph.D; Phone Number: 886-7-312-1101 ext 2625; Email: biholee@kmu.edu.tw

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. willing to join this study for 12 weeks
2. limb injuries,
3. living alone without any family,
4. 65 to 74 years old,
5. independent before an injury,
6. have a smart phone
7. be able to communicate in Mandarin

Exclusion Criteria:

1. with an ISS greater than 16 (severe injuries)
2. severe cognitive impairment
3. severe illness such as organ system insufficiency
4. diagnosed with depression

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: experimental group; Researchers will conduct the Geriatric Trauma Care Program for the experimental group.	Other: Geriatric Trauma Care Program; The intervention program named GTCP includes two sessions with two digital materials named "Digital geriatric trauma care" (DGTC) and "Multiple training modalities" (MTM). The DGTC has been establishing as an Age-friendly e-Book. It has six units. The MTM has three units including "handwritten wisdom quotes", "6-minute meditation", "inspirational words".
No Intervention: contrast group; The contrast group will be receiving the routine care only.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS)	The NPRS is marked with the numbers 0-10 at equal intervals where 0 presents no pain and 10 illustrates the worst pain imaginable. Patients are required to rate the number that represents their current pain intensity. It is well known and broadly used scale in clinical settings. No further reliability and validity tests are needed.	at 1 day before hospital discharge
The Barthel's Index (BI)	The BI will be used to measure functional disabilities. It is used to assess basic activities of daily living (BADL) in terms of respondent abilities related to feeding, bathing, grooming, dressing, bowel and bladder control, toilet use, transfer, mobility, and stair use. The BI has 30 items with scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores representing higher independence in performing BADLs. The Chinese version has been applied in older population, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.79 to 0.85. The Cronbach's alpha will be retested in this study.	at 1 day before hospital discharge
The Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF)	The GDS-SF is a 15-item scale used to identify depression in older adults. It is from the original GDS developed by Sheikh and Yesavage to examine the self-perceived emotions of older adults. The version will be used in this study is a validated Chinese that has been tested its reliability in geriatric older population in Taiwan. The GDS-SF features binary scores for a total score of 0-15. A higher score indicates a more severe of depression. In the GDS-SF, a score of 0 to 5 is normal, a score > 5 suggests depression, and a score ≥ 10 is almost indicative of depression. The Cronbach's alpha for this study will be retested.	at 1 day before hospital discharge
The Elderly Loneliness Scale (ELS)	Loneliness has been defined as perceptions of being alone and separated from others. This concept has been conceptualized to measure desired social contacts and actual social contacts. Lin and Lin (2013) used 189 older adults to examine the Chinese ELS scale's reliability and validity. The ELS includes 3 items for social loneliness and 5 items for emotional loneliness. It has been scored by a 4 points Likert Scale from 1 to 4 with a higher score indicating more loneliness. The Cronbach's alpha for this will be retested in this study.	at 1 day before hospital discharge
Taiwanese version of the EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D)	The EQ-5D is a scale used to measure the HRQoL developed in Europe, which has been globally tested and used. The EQ-5D has five dimensions including mobility, self-care, daily activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. A total of 15 items is included in the EQ-5D. Each dimension has three items assessed by three levels, never, moderate, and severe, of individual quality of life. A participant can only choose one of three levels of their quality of life. It indicates that an assessor only obtains 5 answers from each of 5 domains in the EQ-5D. The hospital discharge EQ-5D will be recalled by participants to report their HRQoL two weeks before admission. The Cronbach's alpha will be retested in this study.	at 1 day before hospital discharge
The Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS)	The NPRS is marked with the numbers 0-10 at equal intervals where 0 presents no pain and 10 illustrates the worst pain imaginable. Patients are required to rate the number that represents their current pain intensity. It is well known and broadly used scale in clinical settings. No further reliability and validity tests are needed.	at 1 months after hospital discharge
The Barthel's Index (BI)	The BI will be used to measure functional disabilities. It is used to assess basic activities of daily living (BADL) in terms of respondent abilities related to feeding, bathing, grooming, dressing, bowel and bladder control, toilet use, transfer, mobility, and stair use. The BI has 30 items with scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores representing higher independence in performing BADLs. The Chinese version has been applied in older population, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.79 to 0.85. The Cronbach's alpha will be retested in this study.	at 1 months after hospital discharge
The Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF)	The GDS-SF is a 15-item scale used to identify depression in older adults. It is from the original GDS developed by Sheikh and Yesavage to examine the self-perceived emotions of older adults. The version will be used in this study is a validated Chinese that has been tested its reliability in geriatric older population in Taiwan. The GDS-SF features binary scores for a total score of 0-15. A higher score indicates a more severe of depression. In the GDS-SF, a score of 0 to 5 is normal, a score > 5 suggests depression, and a score ≥ 10 is almost indicative of depression. The Cronbach's alpha for this study will be retested.	at 1 months after hospital discharge
The Elderly Loneliness Scale (ELS)	Loneliness has been defined as perceptions of being alone and separated from others. This concept has been conceptualized to measure desired social contacts and actual social contacts. Lin and Lin (2013) used 189 older adults to examine the Chinese ELS scale's reliability and validity. The ELS includes 3 items for social loneliness and 5 items for emotional loneliness. It has been scored by a 4 points Likert Scale from 1 to 4 with a higher score indicating more loneliness. The Cronbach's alpha for this will be retested in this study.	at 1 months after hospital discharge
Taiwanese version of the EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D)	The EQ-5D is a scale used to measure the HRQoL developed in Europe, which has been globally tested and used. The EQ-5D has five dimensions including mobility, self-care, daily activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. A total of 15 items is included in the EQ-5D. Each dimension has three items assessed by three levels, never, moderate, and severe, of individual quality of life. A participant can only choose one of three levels of their quality of life. It indicates that an assessor only obtains 5 answers from each of 5 domains in the EQ-5D. The hospital discharge EQ-5D will be recalled by participants to report their HRQoL two weeks before admission. The Cronbach's alpha will be retested in this study.	at 1 months after hospital discharge
The Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS)	The NPRS is marked with the numbers 0-10 at equal intervals where 0 presents no pain and 10 illustrates the worst pain imaginable. Patients are required to rate the number that represents their current pain intensity. It is well known and broadly used scale in clinical settings. No further reliability and validity tests are needed.	at 3 months after hospital discharge
The Barthel's Index (BI)	The BI will be used to measure functional disabilities. It is used to assess basic activities of daily living (BADL) in terms of respondent abilities related to feeding, bathing, grooming, dressing, bowel and bladder control, toilet use, transfer, mobility, and stair use. The BI has 30 items with scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores representing higher independence in performing BADLs. The Chinese version has been applied in older population, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.79 to 0.85. The Cronbach's alpha will be retested in this study.	at 3 months after hospital discharge
The Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF)	The GDS-SF is a 15-item scale used to identify depression in older adults. It is from the original GDS developed by Sheikh and Yesavage to examine the self-perceived emotions of older adults. The version will be used in this study is a validated Chinese that has been tested its reliability in geriatric older population in Taiwan. The GDS-SF features binary scores for a total score of 0-15. A higher score indicates a more severe of depression. In the GDS-SF, a score of 0 to 5 is normal, a score > 5 suggests depression, and a score ≥ 10 is almost indicative of depression. The Cronbach's alpha for this study will be retested.	at 3 months after hospital discharge
The Elderly Loneliness Scale (ELS)	Loneliness has been defined as perceptions of being alone and separated from others. This concept has been conceptualized to measure desired social contacts and actual social contacts. Lin and Lin (2013) used 189 older adults to examine the Chinese ELS scale's reliability and validity. The ELS includes 3 items for social loneliness and 5 items for emotional loneliness. It has been scored by a 4 points Likert Scale from 1 to 4 with a higher score indicating more loneliness. The Cronbach's alpha for this will be retested in this study.	at 3 months after hospital discharge
Taiwanese version of the EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D)	The EQ-5D is a scale used to measure the HRQoL developed in Europe, which has been globally tested and used. The EQ-5D has five dimensions including mobility, self-care, daily activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. A total of 15 items is included in the EQ-5D. Each dimension has three items assessed by three levels, never, moderate, and severe, of individual quality of life. A participant can only choose one of three levels of their quality of life. It indicates that an assessor only obtains 5 answers from each of 5 domains in the EQ-5D. The hospital discharge EQ-5D will be recalled by participants to report their HRQoL two weeks before admission. The Cronbach's alpha will be retested in this study.	at 3 months after hospital discharge

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Bih-O Lee, PHD, Kaohsiung Medical University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 22, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 20, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 20, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): May 27, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 27, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 20, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Wounds and Injuries; Accidental Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: KMUHIRB-F(I)-20230043

Drug and device information, study documents

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