The Southampton Mealtime Assistance Roll-out Trial (SMART) V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Southampton Mealtime Assistance Roll-out Trial (SMART)
IRAS ID
148210
Contact name
Helen C Roberts
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Malnutrition is a common problem in older hospital inpatients and lack of assistance at mealtimes has been identified as one of the factors that contributes to this. Our previous study (The Southampton Mealtime Assistance Study) investigated the feasibility and acceptability of using trained volunteers to provide mealtime assistance to female inpatients on one Medicine for Older People ward. The study found that the volunteers were highly valued by patients and staff.
The current study builds on this, by investigating the feasibility and acceptability of using volunteers to provide mealtime assistance for a broader range of older hospital inpatients, including men and women in multiple different hospital departments. We will assess changes in the food choice and dietary intake of patients in the different departments where volunteers are assisting. Costs associated with the introduction of mealtime volunteers will also be determined.
The study is a quasi-experimental study of adult wards at University Hospital Southampton. Volunteers will undergo a training programme and then be introduced into different hospital departments in 3 month phases. The participants will be patients over 70 admitted to one of the wards under study. Patients with active bowel pathology, those being artificially fed and those in a terminal phase of illness will be excluded.
Data will be collected about recruitment, training and retention of volunteers to determine feasibility. Acceptability will be assessed by interviews with patients and relatives and focus groups with nursing staff and volunteers.
Patient food choices and dietary intake will be investigated by measuring individual patients’ food consumption at the mealtime at which volunteers are assisting. A before and after comparison of protein and energy intake will be undertaken.
The data will be analysed to determine if the use of volunteers is feasible and acceptable, and if this varies in the patient populations in different hospital departments.REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1363
Date of REC Opinion
31 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion