Mobility and dementia: is physiotherapy treatment during respite care effective?
✍ Scribed by Valerie M. Pomeroy; Claire M. Warren; Cheryl Honeycombe; Roger S. J. Briggs; David G. Wilkinson; Ruth M. Pickering; Andrea Steiner
- Book ID
- 101290717
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 204 KB
- Volume
- 14
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6230
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Background. Mobility problems experienced by elderly people with a dementia are associated with falls, fractures and admission to long-term care. A hospital respite care admission is therefore often seen as an opportunity to provide physiotherapy treatment.
Aim. To ®nd whether elderly people with a dementia and a mobility problem show a greater improvement in mobility skills if given physiotherapy treatment than if given non-physical activities intervention during a hospital respite admission.
Method. A controlled randomized multicentre trial with independent blinded assessment. The Southampton Mobility Assessment (mobility score) and Two Minute Walking Test (distance walked) were undertaken at the beginning and end of the study admission and beginning of the next respite admission. Following the ®rst assessment, participants were randomized to either physiotherapy or activities.
Results. Eighty-one participants, from 12 clinical centres, with a mean age of 81.9 years and CAPE I/O score of 2. During the study admission there was a non-signi®cant trend for a lower reduction in mobility score of the physiotherapy group (Mann-Whitney; p 0.614) and a non-signi®cant trend for greater decrease in distance walked in the activities group (t-test; p 0.325).
Discussion. The results of this trial do not support the positive changes demonstrated elsewhere. However, changes in respite care during the early stages of this trial may have produced dierences between the sample for this trial and that for the pilot study. This trial was therefore underpowered.
Conclusion. This trial suggests that future research needs to change the focus from clinical settings to presentations.