Clinical Research Directory

Behavioral Health Program for Short-Stay Nursing Facility Residents & Care Partners

The goal of this clinical trial is to test a behavioral health program (Interventions for Stressful Transitions in Later Life, InSTILL) for skilled nursing facility residents and their primary support person. The main questions it aims to answer is whether the program is program is feasible, satisfactory, and helpful. The researchers will compare the InSTILL program to minimally enhanced usual care. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either the InSTILL program or minimally enhanced usual care. Participants will complete assessments at three timepoints (all) and a brief-exit interview.

Virtual Nature as a Health-promoting Intervention for Nursing Home Residents With Dementia

Rationale and Objectives: Despite significant efforts from healthcare professionals, nursing home residents with dementia often face isolation and a reduced quality of life. Increasing attention has been given to digital solutions as a complement to pharmaceutical treatments. In particular, Virtual Nature (VN; i.e., virtual reality simulations that simulate nature experiences) has emerged as a promising, cost-effective approach to enhancing quality of life and slowing cognitive decline in nursing home residents with dementia. This project aims to assess the long-term effects of a VN intervention on various health and well-being indicators in nursing home residents with dementia. Design: The study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with parallel conditions. Participants will be randomly assigned to either a treatment or a control group. The treatment group will undergo a 12-week VN intervention in addition to usual medications and nursing home activities, while the control group will continue with their usual medications and activities. Assessments will be performed at baseline, in concomitance with the first VN session, and at 4 and 12 weeks into the intervention. VN intervention: The intervention will consist of undergoing a 10-minute VN session twice a week for 12 consecutive weeks. The participants will choose a 360° video from a library of different VN scenarios. The 360° videos within the library will be filmed by the researchers in locations near or in the same region of the participant's nursing homes, and will consist of scenes from various seasons in Norway (spring, summer, fall, winter) and depict popular outdoor recreations such as hiking and cross-country skiing. The VN sessions will be delivered in the participants' room. The playback will be done through a Meta Quest 3 (Reality Labs , USA). The intervention will be delivered by the researchers in collaboration with caregivers and/or nursing students in practice. Participants: Sixty nursing home residents with dementia will be recruited from different nursing homes in Drammen municipality and randomly assigned to the treatment or the control condition. The treatment group will undergo the VN intervention while continuing to receive their usual medications and attending regular activities at their respective nursing homes. The control group will only continue receiving their usual medication and attending regular activities at their respective nursing homes. Inclusion criteria are: being a nursing-home resident with a dementia diagnosis, having normal or corrected-to-normal sight and being able to communicate in Norwegian. Additionally, participants will be excluded if deemed to have poor tolerance to the VN experience (this will be evaluated based on preliminary trials and discussions with caregivers). Written informed consent will be collected for all participants (either directly from the participant or, in case they are not legally competent, their caregivers), after having explained the benefits and risks of participating to them. Instruments: Basic demographic data (age and gender) will be recorded. To assess potential long-term effects, the following measures will be collected at baseline, week 4, and week 12 for both the treatment and control groups: Quality of Life in Late-stage Dementia scale, Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, Brief Agitation Rating Scale, Clinical Dementia Rating scale, and Use of psychotropic drugs.

A Geriatric Mobile Team for Nursing Home Residents: a Feasibility Pilot Study

Nursing home (NH) residents have complex healthcare needs. Barriers to collaboration hinder the delivery of high-quality care in nursing homes. To bridge the gap between hospital-based and NH-based care, various innovative approaches have been proposed, including geriatric mobile teams. In Belgium, geriatric expertise has long been confined to hospital settings. Until recently, no specific organization existed for outpatient geriatric assessment, particularly for NH residents. In April 2024, the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI) introduced a new reimbursement code for geriatric consultations in NHs, promoting the development of extramural geriatric activities. However, evidence on the effectiveness of mobile geriatric teams remains limited, particularly regarding hospitalization prevention. The geriatrics department of CHU UCL Namur is implementing a one-year pilot project involving a mobile team composed of a geriatrician and a nurse to conduct geriatric assessments in the three nursing homes. This non-randomized pilot project aims to establish a new standard of care for residents selected by their general practitioner, leveraging the new reimbursement code. The project is accompanied by a clinical study assessing the feasibility, effectiveness, and acceptability of this intervention. Prospectively collected data will also help define key indicators for a future large-scale study focused on cost-effectiveness.