Function Focused Care: Fracture Care at Home

This pilot study will evaluate the feasibility of implementing an intervention in the home setting that is specifically designed to coach and mentor caregivers as they assist individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) who have fractured a hip to perform everyday activities and engage in more physical activity.

Prior research by the Baltimore Hip Studies (BHS) has shown that it is possible to improve function, increase physical activity, and improve behavioral symptoms among long term care residents with ADRD and to effectively coach and mentor caregivers through a care practice, Function Focused Care for the Cognitively Impaired (FFC-CI), that focuses on having caregivers teach, cue, model, and assist cognitively impaired individuals to perform functional tasks and engage in physical activity, while minimizing behavioral symptoms. This study will determine if a revised intervention, Function Focused Care for the Cognitively Impaired: Hip Care at Home (aka, Hip Care at Home), can be implemented in a home setting. The Hip Care at Home intervention will include an initial evaluation of the hip fracture participant, caregiver, and home setting by an interdisciplinary care team including a physical therapist (PT), occupational therapist (OT), and a coach (nurse or nurse's aide) trained in the function focused care (FFC) approach. The FFC coach will then work with the primary informal (family or friend, unpaid) caregiver to integrate the recommended environmental, behavioral, and physical interventions into the home setting, with weekly visits.