With the growth of hospice, older adults have the opportunity to receive home-based care aimed at reducing suffering and focusing on quality of life at the end of life. While use of technology and educational videos has yet to be fully developed, structured, and evaluated in home hospice care, it has shown promise to improve care in other settings. Therefore, this study aims to develop and evaluate a multi-component technology-based care intervention, i.e., Improving Home hospice Management of End of life issues through technology (I-HoME).
The study intervention focuses on assessing and addressing patient symptoms in the home hospice setting through weekly telehealth visits (for up to 6 weeks) and educational videos that are geared for the patient's informal caregiver. The aim of this phase of the project is two fold. One is that the study team will conduct a single armed (N=6 dyads) pilot study with a focus on optimizing data collection protocols and the intervention. After this step, a randomized pilot study evaluating the feasibility and potential efficacy of I-HoME (N=50 dyads) compared to usual care (N=50 dyads) will be conducted. Phase I of the study to assess feasibility of the intervention was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT04074304.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
80
I-HoME will consist of two components: (1) synchronous live video interactions between patients/CGs and a hospice nurse; and (2) educational videos.
The Visiting Nurse Service of New York
New York, New York, United States
Participant Recruitment Rate
Recruitment rate was measured by the number of participants consented divided by the number of eligible participants.
Time frame: During recruitment (22 months)
Participant Attrition From Enrollment to End of Study
This measure is the total number of participants who withdrew consent or were unreachable for study activities after consent.
Time frame: At the end of the intervention or at 6 weeks, which ever is earlier.
Average Length of I-HoME Tele-visit
This measure was collected by calculating the average duration (in minutes) of each tele-visit between the participant in I-HoME intervention arm and the interventionalist.
Time frame: At the end of the intervention or at 6 weeks, which ever is earlier.
Total Number of Educational Videos Watched by I-HoME Intervention Arm Participants
This measure is the total number of videos watched by the I-HoME intervention arm participants who received at least one tele-visit. Intervention arm participants self-reported whether they watched the educational videos recommended to them by the interventionist.
Time frame: At the end of the intervention or at 6 weeks, which ever is earlier.
Number of I-HoME Intervention Caregivers Who Experienced Technical Issues During the Tele-visits.
The number of I-HoME intervention caregivers who reported at least one technical issues with the tele-visit. Participants in the intervention arm answered questions about whether they experienced technical issues.
Time frame: At the end of the intervention or at 6 weeks, which ever is earlier.
Percentage of Tele-visits With Hardware Issues Out of the Total Number of Tele-visit Intervention Visits
After each intervention visit, participants answered questions about whether they experienced technical issues. This measure was calculated by dividing the number of I-HoME tele-visits during which the participant and/or the interventionist experienced hardware issues by the total number of I-HoME tele-visits administered during the entire study period.
Time frame: At the end of the intervention or at 6 weeks, which ever is earlier.
Percentage of Tele-visits Conducted Out of the Total Possible Tele-visits.
This measure is calculated by dividing the tele-visits conducted out of the total possible tele-visits. This measure shows the adherence of the I-HoME intervention arm to the tele-visits.
Time frame: At the end of the intervention or at 6 weeks, which ever is earlier.
Patients' Symptom Burden Score as Rated by the Caregiver, Measured at Baseline and Weekly for 6 Weeks.
Symptom burden score as measured by the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS). Scale is from a 0 to 90, with higher scores indicating higher symptom burden.
Time frame: At baseline and weekly for 6 weeks.
Number of Patient Hospitalizations From Enrollment to End of Intervention
All hospitalizations of the caregivers' patient from enrollment to end of intervention
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the intervention or at 6 weeks, which ever is earlier.
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.