People with dementia fall over more often than people who do not have dementia. They are less likely to recover than people without dementia. After a fall people with dementia may need more help and they, and their carer, may have a poorer quality of life.
What is the project doing?
In a previous study, we developed and tested a package of care (intervention) to help people recover from a fall. We now wish to carry out a pilot randomised controlled trial in a small group of people which will include:
- Recruiting 60 people with dementia to the trial if they have had a fall in the last 6 months (each area will be randomly allocated to receive either the intervention or usual care.) The intervention will include an assessment to identify any actions which need to be carried out to reduce the risk of falling or improve independence.
- This will be followed by a 12 week programme of activities facilitated by a team of therapists. Additional (booster) sessions will take place up to 6 months. The activities will be targeted at achieving personal goals chosen by the participants. We will follow participants up at 6 months to measure their independence in daily activities, mobility, fear of falling, falls, whether they achieved their goals, quality of life, caregiver burden and the health services and care they required.
What do you hope to achieve or change?
At the end of the trial we will know whether we should carry out a full trial to assess whether the intervention works and is good value for money.