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The use of the interRAI Home Care instrument in the evaluation of care for frail older people: a follow-up study

Publication date: 2018-06-13

Author:

De Almeida Mello, J
Declercq, A ; Van Audenhove, C

Abstract:

Abstract Background: The Belgian National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (NIHDI) launched the third protocol agreement, also known as Protocol 3. This framework has the goal of supporting older persons to stay at home for as long as possible, by guaranteeing access to affordable formal care services, along with improving coordination and integration of care. Under this agreement, several bottom-up innovative home care interventions have been financed since 2010. This doctoral thesis reports some results of the evaluation of these interventions. Objectives: As the goal of these interventions is to keep frail older people at home with low burden for the informal caregivers, it is important to identify the determinants of informal caregiver's burden. Another important goal is to analyze which interventions can effectively delay nursing home admission. The following research questions are explored in this PhD research: 1- What is the evidence in the scientific literature for using the interRAI Home Care (HC) instrument to evaluate home care interventions? 2- What are the factors mostly associated with informal caregivers' burden in the population of the study? 3- What is the effect of home care interventions on delaying or avoiding institutionalization of frail older persons? 4- What is the resource utilization of frail older people in the community compared with frail older people going into residential care? Methods: This is a longitudinal intervention study based on a quasi-experimental design. The study consists of a comparison of the arm receiving several types of interventions with a comparison group of older people living at home and not receiving any intervention. The study includes older people who were at least 65 years old and frail. Results: The interRAI Home Care (HC) instrument was found suitable to be used in this research. The application of this comprehensive assessment instrument made it possible to stratify the study population in levels of impairment as well as to analyze the informal caregiver's burden more in depth than in existing scientific literature in this topic. The RUG-III HC algorithm, also calculated with items from the interRAI HC instrument, showed to be a useful tool to identify clients eligible for nursing home placement as well as clients who should be receiving interventions in home care. Conclusion: This PhD thesis shows the added value of the interRAI Home Care (HC) instrument in the evaluation of care of frail older people. This comprehensive assessment enabled the analysis of the determinants of informal caregivers' burden, a common risk factor for nursing home admission, as well as the identification of interventions to allow frail older people to remain at home for as long as possible. By using a standardized assessment such as the interRAI HC, many tools can be available to help organize and coordinate the services, as well as to guarantee continuity of care for the clients. This research can help organizations, service providers and policy makers to plan and deliver interventions according to their client's needs.