Systematic review of the literature on respite care for the frail elderly
Award Number
04/07/06Award Type
HTA CommissionedProgramme
Health Technology AssessmentStatus / Stage
CompletedDates
2 June 2005 -31 December 2006
Duration (calculated)
01 years 06 monthsFunder(s)
NIHRFunding Amount
£80,856.81Funder/Grant study page
NIHRContracted Centre
Cardiff UniversityPrincipal Investigator
Dr Christine ShawWHO Catergories
Methodologies and approaches for risk reduction researchModels across the continuum of care
Disease Type
Dementia (Unspecified)CPEC Review Info
| Reference ID | 195 |
|---|---|
| Researcher | Reside Team |
| Published | 12/06/2023 |
Data
| Award Number | 04/07/06 |
|---|---|
| Status / Stage | Completed |
| Start Date | 20050602 |
| End Date | 20061231 |
| Duration (calculated) | 01 years 06 months |
| Funder/Grant study page | NIHR |
| Contracted Centre | Cardiff University |
| Funding Amount | £80,856.81 |
Abstract
Caring can have a direct effect on both the physical and mental health of carers and government policy in recent years has focused on support for carers, such as provision of respite care. Respite care, defined as a temporary break in care, can be provided as inpatient care or as home care, and can impact on the health and well being of the care recipient as well as the carer. This systematic literature review will appraise and summarise the literature concerning the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of respite services provided for care recipients of 65 years of age and over, receiving care for physical or mental disabilities, or terminal illness. On-line databases of published research will be searched (medline, embase, cinahl, psychinfo, cancerlit), as well as databases of systematic reviews such as the Cochrane database and the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, and databases of ongoing research. Handsearching of journals related to care of the elderly will also be carried out. Data on outcomes for both carer and care recipient will be collected in relation to physical, psychological and social factors, and impact on service use and provision. The review will focus on quantitative synthesis of data where appropriate, but a summary of qualitative data will also be carried out to present further information on user views and reasons for non-uptake of services, using the methods of meta-synthesis for qualitative research. The data will be summarised according to the characteristics of the care recipient (age, extent of fraily, disease group), carer characteristics (relationship, age, employment status), care setting (in-patient, home, hospice, day care), provider type (voluntary, social services, NHS, private), length of respite, and type of respite programme. An economic analysis will be carried out which will take account of both direct and indirect costs.
Plain English Summary
The commissioning brief wishes to assess the evidence in the medical literature for the clinical and cost effectiveness of respite care for frail and/or disabled older people. To do this a literature review will be carried out that will systematically search for and identify all the relevant literature. Respite care will be defined as services that provide a temporary relief of the care that is usually undertaken by an informal carer. The person receiving care or ‘care recipient’ will have any of a number of underlying conditions such as dementia, physical disabilities such as stroke, terminal illness such as cancer, or a mixture of physical and mental disabilities. One of the main aims of respite care is to enable the carer to continue to care for their relative/friend at home and so one of the main outcomes of interest will be prevention or delay in admission to permanent placement in residential care. The evidence of the effects of respite care will also be assessed for the health and well-being of the carer and the care recipient. In addition, a summary will be provided of the literature concerning user views of respite care and reasons why they may not take up respite care. No matter how effective a service is, it will not be of benefit if consumers do not take up the service. Once the literature has been identified the team will rate the quality of the research and will carry out statistical procedures to combine the data. Many studies will be small which often does not allow any meaningful results, but by combining data from studies more reliable estimates of effectiveness can be made. Sophisticated techniques are required when the studies use different methods and assess different outcomes and this team has expertise in this area. KA has particular expertise in statistical methods of systematic review and has experience of carrying out many reviews of this type. Other members of the team are also very experienced in systematic review methodology having carried out previous HTA reviews or Cochrane reviews. The team also brings a number of different perspective to the study by including researchers with expertise in clinical areas, social science, and health economics as well as statistical. There are strong project management skills within the team to ensure that objectives are met within the time frame. The main cost of the study will be salary for a Researcher to co-ordinate and carry out the review, and part time salary costs for the statistical and economic components, and costs related to dissemination. The research will be carried out in Cardiff, but some funding will be required for meetings of the project team.