Enabling Health and Maintaining Independence for Older People at Home: the ‘homehealth’ Randomised Controlled Trial

Background:HomeHealth is a home-based, voluntary sector service supporting older people with mild frailty to maintain independence through behaviour change. Support workers discuss the person's priorities and enable setting/achieving goals around mobility, nutrition, socialising and/or psychological well-being. Aims:We tested clinical and cost-effectiveness of HomeHealth for maintaining independence in older people with mild frailty in a randomised controlled trial. Methods:Design: Single-blind, parallel randomised controlled trial open between 18 January 2021 and 4 July 2023, with mixed-methods process evaluation. Setting: Community-dwelling older people aged 65+ years with mild frailty from 27 general practices and community settings in London, Yorkshire and Hertfordshire. Randomisation: Participants were randomised 1 : 1 to receive HomeHealth or treatment as usual. Outcomes: Primary outcome was independence in activities of daily living (modified Barthel Index), analysed using linear mixed models. Secondary outcomes included frailty phenotype score, extended activities of daily living, well-being, psychological distress, loneliness, cognition, falls and mortality. Health economic outcomes included quality of life, capability and service use, including hospital admissions. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curves and cost-effectiveness planes were used to represent the probability of cost-effectiveness compared to treatment as usual. Process evaluation: We conducted semistructured interviews with participants receiving the intervention, HomeHealth workers and other stakeholders supporting service delivery. Interviews were thematically analysed. Fidelity of audio-recorded appointments was assessed by two independent raters. We evaluated potential mechanisms of impact using data from appointments attended, types of goals set and progress towards goals. Findings:We recruited 388 participants, mean age 81.4 years (standard deviation 6.5), 64% female and 94% White British/European. HomeHealth did not improve Barthel Index scores at 12 months (0.250, 95% confidence interval -0.932 to 1.432). At 6 months, we found small significant reductions in psychological distress (-1.237, 95% confidence interval -2.127 to -0.348), and frailty phenotype score (-0.252, 95% confidence interval -0.487 to -0.017). At 12 months, we found significant improvements in well-being (1.449, 95% confidence interval 0.124 to 2.775), reduced unplanned admissions (incidence rate ratio 0.65, 95% confidence interval 0.54 to 0.92) with lower associated costs (-£586/participant, 95% confidence interval -351 to -821). There were no differences in other outcomes. HomeHealth dominates treatment as usual with a negative point estimate for incremental costs (-796, 95% confidence interval -2016 to 424), positive point estimate for incremental quality-adjusted life-years (0.009, -0.021 to 0.039) and high probability of cost-effectiveness. Process evaluation: Sixty-four semistructured interviews were completed, including 49 participants and 15 HomeHealth workers/stakeholders. The service was acceptable and safe, with good fidelity of delivery. Participants made progress on personalised goals, most working on enhancing mobility. They found the service empowering, and received emotional/practical support. Engagement was more challenging when participants identified no need for change, had significant memory impairment or new/declining illness. Flexibility around varying symptoms and incorporating behaviour change into existing routines promoted engagement. Conclusion:HomeHealth did not improve independent functioning for older people with mild frailty. There were small significant improvements in frailty status, psychological distress and well-being and a 35% reduction in unplanned admissions, with high probability of cost-effectiveness. Limitations:We used a pragmatic design with intervention delivery in real-world settings during/after the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially with more variability in delivery. Our findings might not apply to other geographical settings/healthcare systems. Funding:This synopsis presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme as award number NIHR128334.