Effects of home visits on quality of life among older adults: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

Background Home visiting services for older adults have been offered for decades to maintain and promote health and independent functioning, thus enhancing quality of life. Previous systematic reviews have provided a mixed picture of the benefits of home visiting programmes in older adults, primarily because of heterogeneity in study designs, targeted populations, and intervention strategies. These reviews may also become out of date; thus, an updated synthesis of relevant studies is warranted. Our objective is to perform a systematic review of recently published primary studies on the effectiveness of multi-professional home visits on quality of life among older adults. Methods We will perform a comprehensive search for studies investigating the effect of a multi-professional home visit approach on quality of life among older adults. We will conduct the literature search in selected electronic databases and relevant research websites from January 2010 onwards. We will include randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster randomised controlled trials (cluster RCTs), and observational studies that enrolled older adults without dementia over 60 years old, along with studies involving multi-professional preventive–promotive home visit approaches not related to recent hospital discharge. We will report our planned review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We will retrieve and record relevant data in a standardised data extraction form and evaluate the quality of the included articles using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and the quality assessment tool for studies with diverse designs (QATSDD). Where appropriate, outcomes will be pooled for meta-analysis using a random-effects model. The main outcomes include quality of life, incidence of falls, depression, dementia, and emergency department admissions. Discussion This review may provide evidence for the effectiveness of home visits in improving older adults’ quality of life. It will potentially benefit health care professionals, policymakers, and researchers by facilitating the design and delivery of interventions related to older generations and improve service delivery in future. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42021234531.

Achieving active aging of older people with gratitude, independence, and government support—A biographical narrative approach

“…Moreover, it is notable for addressing preventive care in the healthcare system to encourage regular check‐ups and healthy lifestyles to reduce the burden of illness among older adults who stay at home in their later life (Tay et al., 2021). In this regard, the government should specialize in geriatric care, such as training healthcare professionals to address the unique health needs of older adults, geriatricians, and gerontological nurses (Tay et al., 2021).…”

“…Moreover, it is notable for addressing preventive care in the healthcare system to encourage regular check‐ups and healthy lifestyles to reduce the burden of illness among older adults who stay at home in their later life (Tay et al., 2021). In this regard, the government should specialize in geriatric care, such as training healthcare professionals to address the unique health needs of older adults, geriatricians, and gerontological nurses (Tay et al., 2021). Also, it can be necessary to develop Age‐Friendly Environments such as accessible public spaces, transportation, and community centers to enhance mobility and social engagement for seniors while enhancing technology like telehealth and remote monitoring to improve healthcare accessibility, especially in remote areas (Lai et al., 2016).…”

Effects of a nurse-led structured home visiting program on quality of life and adherence to treatment in hemodialysis patients

“…Home visits allow the health professionals to identify the health problems of the patients, and when necessary, set treatment plans in order to improve their quality of life ( 17 ). In addition, the home environment allows for a more realistic assessment, an efficient identification of the risk factors and problems, and the initiation of the interventions in the early stages ( 18 ).…”