The Southampton Mealtime Assistance Study aims to determine whether it is feasible and acceptable to introduce trained volunteers as mealtime assistants in five different departments of one large hospital.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
258
Southampton General Hospital
Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Feasibility and acceptability of volunteer mealtime assistants in different hospital departments
Is it feasible to recruit and sustain sufficient volunteers to provide mealtime assistance across a large hospital trust? Are these volunteers acceptable to patients, relatives, and staff? This will be determined by recording the number of volunteers recruited, trained and assessed and by recording their activity, in numbers of mealtimes assisted per week and duration of volunteering. If a volunteer discontinues their role, the reasons will be identified for this. Acceptability will be assessed through qualitative methods- interviews with patients and relatives and focus groups with nursing staff and volunteers.
Time frame: 16 months
Changes in food choice and dietary intake before and after the introduction of volunteer mealtime assistants
The food choices and dietary intake of patients on the wards under study will be determined twice prior to the introduction of the volunteers and twice after their introduction. This will take place at the mealtime where the volunteers are assisting. The weight of meals served is portion controlled by the hospital caterers to within 10% of the stated weight. Therefore, using these stated weights and by measuring the leftover weight of food, we will calculate each patient's dietary intake at that mealtime.
Time frame: 16 months
Costs to the hospital trust associated with implementing a volunteer mealtime assistance programme
Staff costs in terms of time spent training and supporting volunteers will be recorded, as will any consumables required for the study. The costs will be totalled to provide an overall cost estimate of implementing a volunteer mealtime assistance programme.
Time frame: 16 months
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