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Effects of home visits by home nurses to elderly people with health problems

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Samenvatting van de aanvraag

Systematic home visits by community nurses aim to enhance the functional abilities and quality of life of elderly people and to reduce the use of institutional care services. Previous research indicates that home visiting programmes may only be effective when restricted to elderly people with a poor health status. To test this assumption we propose a study with the following main question: are home visits, conducted by enrolled home nurses under supervision of public health nurses, effective when specifically targeted on elderly people with poor (perceived) health in terms of health outcomes, reduction of institutionalization, and cost-effectiveness? Three hundred elderly people (70-84 years) with a poor perceived health status will be selected and randomly allocated to an intervention or control group. The intervention group (n=150) will be visited at least 8 times during a 18 months period by home nurses. The nurses assess the health status, detect problems and risks, give advice and refer to other services. The control group (n=150) receives usual care.Effects of the visits on the health status will be measured after 12, 18 (end of intervention) and 24 months of follow-up (6 months after the intervention has ended). Data on service use (both community and institutional care) will be registered concurrently during 24 months. The cost-effectivenes will be calculated on the health status and service use data.

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Projectnummer:
22000115
Looptijd: 100%
Looptijd: 100 %
2002
2007
Onderdeel van programma:
Projectleider en penvoerder:
Drs. M. Thienen
Verantwoordelijke organisatie:
Maastricht University