Global aging and the growing burden of chronic diseases represent a challenge. Innovative interventions acting upon health determinants, like social participation, are required. Social participation, defined as the involvement of a person in activities that provide interactions with others in the community is critical to promote health and prevent disabilities. Many older adults do not have equitable opportunities to achieve full social participation, and interventions under-empower their personal and environmental resources and only reach a minority. To optimize current practices, the Personalised citizen assistance for social participation (APIC), an intervention demonstrated as being feasible and having positive impacts, needs further evaluation. The first aim of this study is evaluate the impacts of the APIC on older adults' health, social participation, life satisfaction and healthcare services utilisation. The second aim is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. In parallel, the implementation of the APIC, including factors facilitating and impeding it, will be documented. Concerning the first two objectives, two hypotheses are formulated: 1) the APIC will prevent a decline in older women's and men's health, social participation and life satisfaction, and reduce their use of healthcare services, and 2) the APIC will be associated with lower costs, from older adults', healthcare system and societal perspectives, including healthcare expenditures.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
180
The APIC involves a non-professional attendant who, after 2 to 5 days of training, provides a two to three-hour stimulation session each week over a six to eighteen-month period targeting significant social and leisure activities that are otherwise difficult for older adults to accomplish.
Centre d'action bénévole Drummond
Drummondville, Quebec, Canada
Centre d'action bénévole Bellechasse-Lévis-Lotbinière
Lévis, Quebec, Canada
Service d'aide et de référencement Anjou (SARA-Anjou)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Carrefour communautaire Montrose
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Centre ABC
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Accorderie de Sherbrooke, coopérative de solidarité
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
v2 of the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) (''change'' is is being assessed)
Physical and mental health
Time frame: Baseline, 12, 18, 24 months
Social participation scale
Social participation
Time frame: Baseline, 12, 18, 24 months
Life Satisfaction Index-Z
Life Satisfaction
Time frame: Baseline, 12, 18, 24 months
Use of healthcare services-Standardized questionnaire
Use of healthcare services
Time frame: every two months over a 2-year period
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