Evaluation of Mobility and Quality of Life: During and After Discharge from Clinical Geriatric Setting

Strupeit, Steve

Tuesday, 23 July 2013: 3:30 PM

Steve Strupeit, MScN, BA, Diplom-Pflegewirt (FH)¹
Arne Buß, MScN, BScN¹
Karin Wolf-Ostermann, PhD²
(1)Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Science, Hamburg, Germany
(2)Nursing Science, Alice Salomon University of Applied Science, Berlin, Germany

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be get an overview about the outcomes of Mobility and Quality of life after discharge from a clinical-setting

Learning Objective 2: The learner will get an idea about the needs of vulnarabel groups after discharge

Purpose:

Mobility is an essential need of human beings. Mobility impairment is a major risk factor for disability and/or nursing care dependency in elderly people. To obtain and facilitate mobility and quality of life in elderly people with mobility impairments special nursing interventions should be provided. Aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of a nursing consulting intervention on mobility and quality of life in elderly people with mobility impairments.

Methods:

A mono-centered, prospective longitudinal study with a pretest-posttest design was conducted in patients being admitted to a geriatric rehabilitation center in Hamburg, Germany. Intervention comprised home visitations during hospital stay, 3 months and 6 months post discharge. Additionally follow-up phone calls were conducted. Data were collected from May 2008 to February 2010, at admission, at discharge, and 3 months follow-up on functional status (Barthel-index) and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF). Descriptive statistics were used to describe outcome measures. Generalised linear models (GLM) were used to analyse longitudinal effects.

Results:

One hundred and twenty-two patients took part in the study. Mean age of participants was 83.44 (SD 8.71) in the control group and 83.72 (SD 6.87) in the intervention group. Participants in the intervention group showed a higher increase in functional status compared to participants in the control group (p = .050). Quality of life was higher in the intervention group in social domain only (p = .023).

Conclusion:

Findings of this study indicate that the intervention seemed to have a positive effect on functional status but almost did not affect quality of life. Nursing consulting hast the potential to obtain and facilitate mobility in elderly people with mobility impairments. Further research should focus on effectivity of nursing consulting using rigorous research methods.

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