Invecchiamento con disabilità fisiche a lungo termine

Participants in this arm will receive the Removing Environmental Barriers to Independent Living (REBIL) intervention.

REBIL is a complex intervention with two essential components: (1) removing environmental barriers and home hazards in the home tailored to the participant's unique abilities and limitations and (2) strategy training with the participant to help participant to be able to identify barriers in the home and community and identify potential resources and strategies to remove the barriers. Treatment includes one assessment session and four 75-minute visits in the home with an occupational therapist over 8 weeks, followed by a 6 -month assessment session by a blinded rater.

Participants in this arm will receive life interview visits provided by a trained occupational therapist (OT) or OT student remotely for an equivalent amount of time to the treatment group. The waitlist control group will be offered the REBIL intervention after the 6-month follow-up is completed.

The waitlist attentional control group will receive an initial assessment session then four 75 minute interview visits from an occupational therapy graduate assistant, followed by a 6-month assessment session by a blinded rater. After the 6-month follow-up is completed this group will receive the REBIL intervention.

The In-Home Occupational Performance Evaluation (I-HOPE) activity score measures current activity patterns of participants across 44 activities. The score ranges from 0 to 1.0, with a higher score indicating fewer problematic activities for the participant.

The In-Home Occupational Performance Evaluation (I-HOPE) performance score is a mean rating across up to 10 participant-prioritized activities on a scale of 1 (unable to perform the activity at all) to 5 (able to perform the activity without difficulty).

The In-Home Occupational Performance Evaluation (I-HOPE) satisfaction score is a mean rating across up to 10 participant-prioritized activities on a scale of 1 (not satisfied at all with the performance of the activity) to 5 (very satisfied with their performance of the activity).

The In-Home Occupational Performance Evaluation (I-HOPE) barrier severity score is a total sum of barrier ratings (0=independent with/without a device, 1=stand-by assistance needed, 2=minimum assistance needed, 3=moderate assistance needed, 4=maximum assistance needed, 5=no activity) for all identified barriers across up to 10 prioritized activities. Multiple barriers could be identified for each prioritized activity. Higher scores indicate greater barrier severity. There is no maximum score.

The Reintegration to Normal Living Index is a disability-related quality-of life-instrument that will be used to measure participants' satisfaction with their home and community participation and has been validated on a population of community-dwelling individuals with chronic conditions. It uses an 11-item, 10 point visual analog scale with higher scores indicating greater reintegration to normal living. The sum score is divided by 110 and then multiplied by 100 to obtain an adjusted score. Adjusted scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater reintegration to normal living.

The Westmead Home Safety Assessment (WeHSA) short form is a performance-based assessment of fall hazards in different spaces of the home (e.g., kitchen, bathroom, hallway, bedroom etc.). WeSHA scores indicate the total number of environmental fall hazards in the home.

The Fall Prevention Strategy Survey is a self-report instrument addressing protective behaviors related to fall risk among adults. It is an 11-item survey, scores range from 0 to 22 with higher scores indicating use of more fall prevention strategies.

This scale comprises 25 diverse activities across four participation domains: routines, recreation, responsibilities, and relationships. Ratings were on a five-point Likert-type scale regarding the frequency of participation, the importance of the activity, and their self-efficacy in completing it. We calculated the ratio of number of important/very important activities they could perform very much/as much as they wanted (numerator) to the number of important/very important activities (denominator).

Participants reported monthly on the number of falls they experienced in the past month. A fall was defined as an unexpected event in which a person comes to rest on the ground, floor, or a lower level. Fall rates were calculated as the number of falls per 1000 observed participant days.