BU researchers at the Ageing & Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) have developed a new digital intervention to help patients manage their symptoms of frailty and long-term medical conditions. Helping the older generation get familiar with using digital technology and engaging in their health and care means they can access information to manage their conditions at home, helping them to live better for longer and reduce the need to attend clinics as often.
Frailty is a particular health state that affects one in ten people over the age of 65 and can lead to a higher risk of falls, disability, and a poorer quality of life. DIALOR (DIgitAL cOaching for fRailty) gives patients access at home to a tailored digital application. The app gives users information about exercises, nutrition and wellbeing plans that support the condition they have, whilst giving them access to wider information and the services they might need in the community.
A series of digital health coaching sessions then guides and prompts the person to change their behaviours, so that people are supported to become more active in their health and care. It also enables people to make informed healthcare choices around what matters most to them, with the help of a trained professional.
Increased life expectancy means that more people are living longer with multiple health conditions. According to the NIHR (National Institute for Health & Care Research) two thirds of adults aged over 65 years are expected to be living with multiple health conditions (multi-morbidity) by 2035.
DIALOR is targeting people with frailty and long-term conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma to try to reverse or reduce decline in frailty and help people live well for longer. It is hoped that the long-term benefit of this will mean that there will be less demand on local health and social care services in the future.
Professor Jane Murphy, Project Lead said: “DIALOR uses two established healthcare techniques that we’ve combined to provide an effective digital system of self-management. Firstly, the technique of health coaching allows the patient to have a series of individual sessions with a healthcare provider to involve them in their health and care, and support healthy, sustainable behaviour change by challenging a person to identify their own goals and transform their goals into action. The second approach is to give access to a digital app so that they can manage the conditions themselves. This allows us to provide an effective system of care focusing on exercise, nutrition, wellbeing and access to information and services. Once the system is in place, it is managed by the patient themselves at home.”
The DIALOR team at BU worked in collaboration with Dorset based social enterprise and charity Help & Care, which supports people and communities to live the lives they choose. Help & Care provide a wide range of services to people across Dorset and South England, especially supporting those with long-term health conditions, and providing health and wellbeing coaching. Matt Doyle, Locality Manager at Help & Care said, “We are always delighted to support our local communities and being involved in a project like this is tremendously exciting. We are hoping that this research will inform good practice going forward and will lead to a fruitful partnership with Bournemouth University, allowing for further opportunities to take an active part in vital research and development.”
The project has also been a collaboration between a number of health partners across Dorset including University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) and local primary care networks who have worked with the team of researchers, led by Professor Jane Murphy who said: “This project has demonstrated how vital it is to work with multiple partners, agencies and charities in the local area to enable us to provide the level of targeted intervention needed to make a difference to peoples’ lives.”
The UK has an increasing ageing population. This means the number of older people with multiple conditions is going to lead to a greater complexity in their care. However, the project also hopes to involve an increasing number of older people in society who will be used to using the internet and smart technologies in their lives already. DIALOR’s Patient and Public Involvement Lead, Jim McMahon said: “Digital services like these provide improvements in health and wellbeing, leading to greater independence for much longer, in a happy retirement”.
The project has been designed so that other health organisations in the UK can easily adopt DIALOR, and the aim is that the project can be rolled out across the UK. With more patients managing their health conditions independently, in the community, the hope is that there will be less of a burden on healthcare services in the future.
For further information about the DIALOR project and the work of the ADRC please visit the BU website.
For further information about the work of Help & Care please visit their website.
