Evaluating the Impact of Senior Companion Programs

Senior Companion Programs (SCP) facilitate partnerships between community volunteers and local homebound seniors. Seniors served by the SCP will be provided with a companion who will conduct weekly visits with them, help with meal preparation or deliveries, provide transportation, assist with simple housekeeping, and socialize with the client amongst other tasks. These services are directed towards helping the senior client continue living independently in their own home instead of moving into an assisted living or nursing home. The SCP model is being evaluated to determine the impact of the services on the client's overall well-being and independent living status.

When a client calls an agency or referring agency to ask for a senior companion, the client will be screened for the above-mentioned eligibility criteria. Typically, most SCPs have wait lists for services. If the client calls when no companions are available the client will be told that the client is on a waitlist for services. When a companion becomes available, the agency will call the top two clients on the waitlist that match the new companion's available location (since most of the agencies involved serve large regions, matching on geography is important). With each of these clients, the agency worker will meet in person to conduct an intake interview. During the interview, the clients will be provided with information about the study and asked to consent. It is up to the agency to determine if the client is capable of directing their own care. If the client is not capable, and the client has a Power of Attorney (POA), the POA must be present and provide consent on behalf of the new client. If the client is not capable, and the client does not have a POA, the client will not be consented into the study. All clients, regardless of consent status will complete the intake interview with the agency caseworker. This information will act as a baseline survey. In rare cases, seeing a client's home in person might make them ineligible (if it appears unsafe for a companion to visit them), in which case the agency will interview the next person on the waitlist. Once two clients are eligible and have completed intake interviews, the agency will use a separate survey application, which on the backend will randomly assign one client to treatment and one to control. The agency will call each client and let them know either that they will receive a companion or that they do not have the capacity to provide them with a companion. The above procedure will be in effect when there is an active wait list for services. If a senior calls to request services when a companion is available and there are no other requests for services, the client will immediately be given the companion and will not be a part of the study. All clients will be surveyed 6- and 18-months post-randomization and will be tracked in administrative datasets.