Frailty SyndromeFrail@HomeNCT06842719
Effectiveness of Post-Hospital Discharge Housing Counselling to Support Geriatric Patients in Staying At Home: a Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial
A study testing on-site housing counseling in people with Frailty Syndrome, run by Maximilian König.
Trial summary
Hospitalisation is often a disruptive event for older people, especially for geriatric patients with frailty. A critical factor for a successful return to one's own home is the living situation. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 70 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Frailty Syndrome
- What is being tested?
- on-site housing counseling
- Type of treatment
- Surgery or procedure
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 200 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- 1 Mar 2025to 1 Aug 2026
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 70 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Patients aged 70 and over who have been living at home up to now, with typical geriatric multimorbidity and a Barthel Index < 70, who have been admitted to the Wolgast Centre for Geriatric Medicine and whose discharge destination is their own home again. The latter must be in the catchment area of the Wolgast Hospital.
Who cannot join
- Persons who are not able to understand the purpose of the study or who are not able to conduct business (e.g. severe dementia, delirium)
- Patients in a palliative state in the terminal stage
- Patients who are being discharged to a nursing home
- T
Trial locations and contacts
No sites are listed yet. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
About this study
Hospitalisation is often a disruptive event for older people, especially for geriatric patients with frailty. A critical factor for a successful return to one's own home is the living situation. Unfortunately, a large proportion of homes in Germany are not sufficiently accessible and often do no longer meet the needs of older residents with various health limitations. This can impair residents' functionality, increase the risk of falls, and restrict independence. Through timely housing advice and adaptation, including digital aids, more older people could be enabled to remain in their own homes with a high degree of safety despite their limitations ("Aging in Place").
Whilst long-term care insurance provide funding for home environment improvements, this is often not utilised, in part due to a lack of advice. The effectiveness of housing counselling in stabilising the functional level of geriatric patients after hospital discharge and in preventing negative outcomes such as rehospitalisation, falls, nursing home placement or death has not been sufficiently investigated in the German health and social care system. The few available studies show that interventions related to the home environment can have positive effects on activities of daily living, fall risk and mental health. As the functional abilities of older patients are usually worse at the time of discharge than before hospitalisation, this is a good time to assess the home environment and the person-environment fit.
Integrating professional housing counselling into discharge management could make a significant contribution to increasing safety in the home environment, improving self-help skills and preventing falls and re-hospitalisation. This could improve quality of life and reduce the burden on the healthcare system. The Frail@Home trial is a single-centre, randomised, controlled pragmatic trial (RCT) to test whether housing counselling provided within two to four weeks of hospital discharge increases the chances of older people remaining in their familiar home environment. The intervention group will receive on-site housing counseling, while the control group will receive standard care plus an additional information booklet from the local housing counseling service. The primary endpoint of the study is the number of days spent at home (DSH) in the first 6 and 12 months after discharge from acute geriatric care. The follow-up period will be 12 months. If successful, this study will be the first to show, using RCT methods, that early housing counselling after hospital discharge supports the retention of geriatric patients in their familiar homes.
Read the detailed description
Hospitalisation is often a disruptive event for older people, especially for geriatric patients with frailty. A critical factor for a successful return to one's own home is the living situation. Unfortunately, a large proportion of homes in Germany are not sufficiently accessible and often do no longer meet the needs of older residents with various health limitations. This can impair residents' functionality, increase the risk of falls, and restrict independence. Through timely housing advice and adaptation, including digital aids, more older people could be enabled to remain in their own homes with a high degree of safety despite their limitations ("Aging in Place").
Whilst long-term care insurance provide funding for home environment improvements, this is often not utilised, in part due to a lack of advice. The effectiveness of housing counselling in stabilising the functional level of geriatric patients after hospital discharge and in preventing negative outcomes such as rehospitalisation, falls, nursing home placement or death has not been sufficiently investigated in the German health and social care system. The few available studies show that interventions related to the home environment can have positive effects on activities of daily living, fall risk and mental health. As the functional abilities of older patients are usually worse at the time of discharge than before hospitalisation, this is a good time to assess the home environment and the person-environment fit.
Integrating professional housing counselling into discharge management could make a significant contribution to increasing safety in the home environment, improving self-help skills and preventing falls and re-hospitalisation. This could improve quality of life and reduce the burden on the healthcare system. The Frail@Home trial is a single-centre, randomised, controlled pragmatic trial (RCT) to test whether housing counselling provided within two to four weeks of hospital discharge increases the chances of older people remaining in their familiar home environment. The intervention group will receive on-site housing counseling, while the control group will receive standard care plus an additional information booklet from the local housing counseling service. The primary endpoint of the study is the number of days spent at home (DSH) in the first 6 and 12 months after discharge from acute geriatric care. The follow-up period will be 12 months. If successful, this study will be the first to show, using RCT methods, that early housing counselling after hospital discharge supports the retention of geriatric patients in their familiar homes.
- Conditions
- Frailty Syndrome
- Being tested
- on-site housing counseling
- Medical subject headings
- Frailty
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
on-site housing counselingProcedure or surgery
on-site housing counseling by a certified housing counseling expert
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention (on-site housing counseling) | Experimental | standard care plus an additional information booklet Receives: Procedure: on-site housing counseling |
| Control group (standard care plus an additional information booklet ) | No intervention | standard care plus an additional information booklet |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Days spent at home 1 year after discharge from geriatrics department
Sum of days spent at home 1 year after discharge from geriatrics department
Measured: 12 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted24 Feb 2025
- Study start1 Mar 2025 (estimated)
- Primary completion1 Jul 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion1 Aug 2026 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Frailty SyndromeStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 200 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Maximilian König
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor-investigator, Maximilian König, University Medicine Greifswald
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06842719
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- BB 079/24
- Acronym
- Frail@Home
- Status last verified
- Feb 2025
- First submitted
- 18 Feb 2025
- Last updated
- 24 Feb 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 24 Feb 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effectiveness of Post-Hospital Discharge Housing Counselling to Support Geriatric Patients in Staying At Home: a Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06842719
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- Frail@Home / BB 079/24
- Conditions
- Frailty Syndrome
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 200 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Maximilian KönigUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Mar 2025 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- 1 Jul 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 1 Aug 2026 (estimated)
- First posted
- 24 Feb 2025 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Hospitalisation is often a disruptive event for older people, especially for geriatric patients with frailty. A critical factor for a successful return to one's own home is the living situation. Unfortunately, a large proportion of homes in Germany are not sufficiently accessible and often do no longer meet the needs of older residents with various health limitations. This can impair residents' functionality, increase the risk of falls, and restrict independence. Through timely housing advice and adaptation, including digital aids, more older people could be enabled to remain in their own homes with a high degree of safety despite their limitations ("Aging in Place").
Whilst long-term care insurance provide funding for home environment improvements, this is often not utilised, in part due to a lack of advice. The effectiveness of housing counselling in stabilising the functional level of geriatric patients after hospital discharge and in preventing negative outcomes such as rehospitalisation, falls, nursing home placement or death has not been sufficiently investigated in the German health and social care system. The few available studies show that interventions related to the home environment can have positive effects on activities of daily living, fall risk and mental health. As the functional abilities of older patients are usually worse at the time of discharge than before hospitalisation, this is a good time to assess the home environment and the person-environment fit.
Integrating professional housing counselling into discharge management could make a significant contribution to increasing safety in the home environment, improving self-help skills and preventing falls and re-hospitalisation. This could improve quality of life and reduce the burden on the healthcare system. The Frail@Home trial is a single-centre, randomised, controlled pragmatic trial (RCT) to test whether housing counselling provided within two to four weeks of hospital discharge increases the chances of older people remaining in their familiar home environment. The intervention group will receive on-site housing counseling, while the control group will receive standard care plus an additional information booklet from the local housing counseling service. The primary endpoint of the study is the number of days spent at home (DSH) in the first 6 and 12 months after discharge from acute geriatric care. The follow-up period will be 12 months. If successful, this study will be the first to show, using RCT methods, that early housing counselling after hospital discharge supports the retention of geriatric patients in their familiar homes.
Detailed description
Hospitalisation is often a disruptive event for older people, especially for geriatric patients with frailty. A critical factor for a successful return to one's own home is the living situation. Unfortunately, a large proportion of homes in Germany are not sufficiently accessible and often do no longer meet the needs of older residents with various health limitations. This can impair residents' functionality, increase the risk of falls, and restrict independence. Through timely housing advice and adaptation, including digital aids, more older people could be enabled to remain in their own homes with a high degree of safety despite their limitations ("Aging in Place").
Whilst long-term care insurance provide funding for home environment improvements, this is often not utilised, in part due to a lack of advice. The effectiveness of housing counselling in stabilising the functional level of geriatric patients after hospital discharge and in preventing negative outcomes such as rehospitalisation, falls, nursing home placement or death has not been sufficiently investigated in the German health and social care system. The few available studies show that interventions related to the home environment can have positive effects on activities of daily living, fall risk and mental health. As the functional abilities of older patients are usually worse at the time of discharge than before hospitalisation, this is a good time to assess the home environment and the person-environment fit.
Integrating professional housing counselling into discharge management could make a significant contribution to increasing safety in the home environment, improving self-help skills and preventing falls and re-hospitalisation. This could improve quality of life and reduce the burden on the healthcare system. The Frail@Home trial is a single-centre, randomised, controlled pragmatic trial (RCT) to test whether housing counselling provided within two to four weeks of hospital discharge increases the chances of older people remaining in their familiar home environment. The intervention group will receive on-site housing counseling, while the control group will receive standard care plus an additional information booklet from the local housing counseling service. The primary endpoint of the study is the number of days spent at home (DSH) in the first 6 and 12 months after discharge from acute geriatric care. The follow-up period will be 12 months. If successful, this study will be the first to show, using RCT methods, that early housing counselling after hospital discharge supports the retention of geriatric patients in their familiar homes.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention (on-site housing counseling) | Experimental | Procedure: on-site housing counselingstandard care plus an additional information booklet |
| Control group (standard care plus an additional information booklet ) | No intervention | –standard care plus an additional information booklet |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 70 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Patients aged 70 and over who have been living at home up to now, with typical geriatric multimorbidity and a Barthel Index < 70, who have been admitted to the Wolgast Centre for Geriatric Medicine and whose discharge destination is their own home again. The latter must be in the catchment area of the Wolgast Hospital.
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Persons who are not able to understand the purpose of the study or who are not able to conduct business (e.g. severe dementia, delirium)
- Patients in a palliative state in the terminal stage
- Patients who are being discharged to a nursing home
- T
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| on-site housing counselingon-site housing counseling by a certified housing counseling expert | Procedure or surgery | Intervention (on-site housing counseling) |
Primary outcome
Days spent at home 1 year after discharge from geriatrics department
Time frame: 12 months
Sum of days spent at home 1 year after discharge from geriatrics department
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 24 Feb 2025.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Undecided
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing on-site housing counseling in people with Frailty Syndrome, run by Maximilian König.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Feb 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Maximilian König, Prof. Dr. (+49 17632857652, maximilian.koenig@med.uni-greifswald.de), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Days spent at home 1 year after discharge from geriatrics department (time frame: 12 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Feb 2025.