A supportive home visit program for older adults implemented by non-professionals: Feasibility and effects on physical performance and quality of life at one year – A pilot study

Knowledge of supportive home rehabilitative procedures is needed to improve the independent home training and psychosocial wellbeing of older people. The primary focus of this study was to assess the feasibility of a home visit program involving the use of non-professional home rehabilitation assistants (HRAs) support among elderly. The secondary objective was to investigate the effects to physical performance and health-related quality of life (HRQL) of older people. A controlled intervention study was implemented at two war veterans’ rehabilitation centers in Finland. The study included 22 long-term unemployed people aged 26–58 years, who were educated in HRA tasks and 417 community-dwelling persons aged 65–99 years, who participated in 10–28 days of inpatient rehabilitation. The intervention group (IG) received 10–14-month physiotherapist-supervised HRA home visit program. The control group (CG) received no home visit intervention. Additional information was collected to assess the feasibility of the intervention. Structured interviews were carried out. Physical performance was evaluated through several validated tests, pain with the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and HRQL with the Leipad questionnaire. The HRAs adopted their supporting role through the social activation of the rehabilitees and continued to study to become practical nurses. At 10–14 months, HRQL among women (p = 0.029) and chair rising among men (p = 0.028) improved in the IG but declined in the CG. The supportive home visit program was feasible and improved the HRQL in women and chair rising in men. This model could motivate long-term unemployed people to educate themselves.