Objective: To compare the outcome of day hospital to day centre rehabilitation.
Design: Single blind randomized controlled trial with home assessments at baseline (twice), six weeks and three months.
Setting: Mainly rural health district. Day hospital and social services day centres in market towns.
Subjects: One hundred and five physically disabled older patients living at home referred for day hospital rehabilitation or maintenance before discharge from hospital (66) or referred as outpatients (39).
Interventions: Day hospital treatment or day centre rehabilitation by a physiotherapist and two health support workers.
Main outcome measures: Barthel Index, Philadelphia Geriatric Morale Scale and Caregiver Strain Index.
Results: More day centre (23/55) than day hospital patients (6/50) (p <0.001) withdrew from allocated treatment by choice or because of operational difficulties. Both groups improved significantly in functional ability and reduction of care-giver strain by three months but there was no significant difference between groups. The mean improvement in Barthel Index (standard error) for day hospital = +1.5 (0.41) (n = 34) and day centres = +1.5 (0.48) (n = 38). The mean difference (95% confidence interval) between day hospital and day centre was 0 (–1.28, +1.28). Likewise the mean Philadelphia Geriatric Morale Scale improvement for day hospital +1.8 (0.66) (n = 35) and day centres was +0.9 (0.63) (n = 38). The mean difference was –0.88 (–2.7, +0.95). The mean reduction in Caregiver Strain for day hospital was –1.45 (0.5) (n = 23) and day centre was –1.59 (0.47) (n = 27). The difference was –0.14 (1.52,+1.24). (These analyses are all on an intention-to-treat basis.)
Conclusion: Whilst the improvement in functional ability and care-giver strain was similar in both groups, day centre rehabilitation was less popular and had practical difficulties. If these difficulties can be overcome the model should be tested elsewhere.
