Occupational Therapist Intervention Study (OTIS)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Does Occupational Therapist led home environmental assessment and modification reduce falls among high risk older people?
IRAS ID
205571
Contact name
David Torgerson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of York
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN22202133
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
Background:
Falls are common in older people and up to a third of people over 65 and half over 80 fall each year. About 1 in 10 people suffer a serious injury after falling. Most falls happen when people are at home. Hazards in the home, such as slippery floors or poor lighting, are important causes of falls.
We would like to find out if people over 65 years old would have less falls if they had a home visit from an occupational therapist. During this visit the occupational therapist looks for potential hazards that could cause falls and suggests changes to try to avoid them. We also want to find out if this would be good value for money for the NHS.
Design
We will invite 1299 people to take part in this study. These people will have either taken part in studies previously run by the research team and agreed to be contacted about other studies, or will be recruited from GP practices. People who have fallen in the past 12 months or who tell us they worry about falling will be eligible for the study. If people have not fallen we may ask them to contact us if they do fall and they will be able to enter the study. The participants will be randomly allocated (by chance) to two groups. One group will receive a visit from an occupational therapist who will look at hazards in their home and suggest changes to avoid potential falls. The other group will receive usual healthcare from their GP and a falls prevention leaflet. We will follow up all participants for 12 months to see if they have fallen and look at their quality of life.
The study is funded by the Department of Health, Health Technology Assessment grant.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
16/WS/0154
Date of REC Opinion
8 Aug 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion