Goal setting as part of a holistic intervention to promote independence in older people with mild frailty: a process evaluation alongside a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Frailty is a condition resulting from a decline in physiological reserves caused by an accumulation of several deficits, which progressively impairs the ability to recover from health adverse events. Following a promising feasibility study, the HomeHealth trial assessed a holistic tailored intervention for older adults with mild frailty to promote independence in their own homes, compared with usual care. We aimed to understand how goal setting worked among older people with mild frailty. METHODS: This study was a process evaluation alongside the HomeHealth randomised trial in older adults with mild frailty. The intervention was delivered at participants' homes, either in person or by telephone or videoconferencing. We carried out semi-structured interviews with older participants who had received the intervention (between three and six appointments), on average 233 days (range 68-465) after their last appointment, purposively sampled according to age, gender, number of sessions attended, adverse events, ethnicity, Index of Multiple Deprivation, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Barthel scores, research site, and HomeHealth worker. We also conducted interviews with HomeHealth workers who delivered the intervention (n=7). Interviews explored the experience and process of goal setting, benefits and challenges, perceived progress, and behaviour change maintenance after the service had finished. Ethics approval was obtained, and all participants gave informed consent. Interviews were thematically analysed. HomeHealth workers kept formal records of goals set and assessed progress towards goals (0-2 rating scale) during six monthly-sessions, which were descriptively summarised. FINDINGS: 56 interviews were completed between July 15, 2022, and May 18, 2023. Study participants (n=49) had a mean age of 80 years (range 66-94), including 32 (65%) women and 17 (35%) men. Participants self-identified as White (n=42), Asian (n=3), Black (n=2), Mixed (n=1), and other ethnic (n=1) backgrounds. Findings suggested goal setting could be both a challenge and a motivator for older participants with mild frailty. Goal setting worked well when the older person could identify a clear need and set realistic goals linked to functioning, which led to a positive sense of achievement. Challenges occurred when older people were already accessing multiple resources and health services, or where the terminology of "goals" was off-putting due to work or school connotations. Average progress towards goals was 1·15/2. Most participants set goals around improving mobility (or a combination of mobility and another goal type such as socialising), and there was evidence of participants sustaining these behaviour changes after the intervention. INTERPRETATION: Older people with mild frailty can engage well with goal setting to promote independence. The lapse between receiving the intervention and being interviewed limited recall for some participants. However, the acceptability and adherence to the intervention for older people with mild frailty, and their moderate progress towards goals, should encourage further tailored and person-centred practices to promote their independence. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment.

Type of goals set and progress towards these goals, as part of a behaviour change intervention, in people with mild cognitive impairment: a secondary analysis.

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects 5-20% of older people in the UK, but often goes undiagnosed and is associated with increased risk of dementia. Targeting risk factors such as physical inactivity and social isolation through behaviour-change interventions could reduce this risk. However, it is unclear how MCI impacts engagement with these interventions. We aimed to explore how MCI affects goal-setting priorities and progress towards these goals in a behaviour-change intervention (HomeHealth). METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of a completed randomised controlled trial, HomeHealth, which started in January 2021 and recruited 386 participants aged 65 years and older with mild frailty according to the Clinical Frailty Scale from general practices and the community in England. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either the HomeHealth intervention (n=195) or treatment as usual (n=191) for 6 months. An evidence-based behaviour change intervention supported older people to work on goals to maintain independence, addressing factors affecting capability, opportunity, and motivation. Goal setting and progress information was available for 167 (86%) of 195 participants who received the intervention. The type of goal set and goal progress (scale 0-2) were compared between participants with healthy cognition, those with potential MCI, and those with probable dementia (rated with Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA]). Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted between Aug 16, 2022, and May 18, 2023, with 29 people with MCI who received the intervention, to explore the perceived impact of MCI on goal setting, progress, and maintenance. Data were analysed using codebook thematic analysis. FINDINGS: The mean age of participants was 80·8 years, 105 (63%) of 167 were women and 158 (95%) were white. 54 (32%) of 167 participants had healthy cognition, 94 (56%) had potential MCI, and 19 (11%) probable dementia. Distribution of goal type was similar across the three groups, with most participants setting mobility goals. Progress towards goals (scale 0-2) was similar in people with healthy cognition and potential MCI (1·24 and 1·18, respectively) but lower in those with probable dementia (0·76). However, all met the moderate progress cutoff (0·66-1·32). People with MCI recognised their cognition was getting worse but did not feel the HomeHealth intervention could help. Rather than setting new goals, people with MCI built on existing behaviours. Many did not initially understand the intervention and felt they would have benefitted from contact in between sessions or from more sessions to help goal progress. Once the sessions ended, less than a quarter of participants maintained the goal progress. INTERPRETATION: Interventions to help older adults age well can be successfully delivered in people with MCI, to help them set and make progress towards goals. However, to maintain changes, more intense support is needed. FUNDING: National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research, NIHR Health Technology Assessment.