Impact of continuous in-home rehabilitation on quality of life and activities of daily living in elderly clients over 1 year.
OBJECTIVE
To verify the effect of in-home rehabilitation on quality of life and activities of daily living in elderly clients.


METHODS
In this non-randomized controlled intervention trial, elderly participants were separated into a rehabilitation or a non-rehabilitation group (n = 100 each). The non-rehabilitation group received basic in-home nursing care, including assistance with cooking, cleaning, toileting, meals and medication. The rehabilitation group received a physical treatment program provided by a licensed professional once a week and basic nursing care in the home. For each group, quality of life and activities of daily living were assessed approximately every 3 months over a 1-year period. Quality of life was evaluated using the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale, and activities of daily living were evaluated based on the Functional Independence Measure.


RESULTS
The rehabilitation group showed statistically significant improvements in both quality of life and activities of daily living. In contrast, the non-rehabilitation group, although showing slight improvement in quality of life at 9 months, showed almost no effects at the other time-points and no significant changes in activities of daily living over the course of the study.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present study suggest that long-term continuous in-home rehabilitation might improve quality of life and activities of daily living in elderly clients. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1866-1872.
Graduate School of Comprehensive Rehabilitation, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan.
Miyuki
M
Imanishi
Department of Psychiatry, Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto, Japan.
Hisao
H
Tomohisa
College of Health and Human Science, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan.
Kazuo
K
Higaki
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome
activities of daily living; functionally impaired elderly; occupational therapy; quality of life; rehabilitation