Effectiveness of the implementation of function-focused care in functional decli-ne: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Background: Function-focused care (FFC) has shown positive results in preventing functional decline (FD) among hospitalized older adults. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of nurses’ implementation of FFC in promoting function and preventing FD among hospitalized older adults. Methodology: Prospective quasi-experimental study with 101 hospitalized older adults and 94 nurses from 4 wards. FFC was implemented in the experimental group. FFC and FD were assessed at 3 in-tervals: baseline-discharge (t0), discharge-follow up (t1), and baseline-follow-up (t2). Results: The promotion of FFC was 0.46 ± 0.22. Statistically significant differences were found in FFC between groups (experimental and control; p < 0.01; 0.52 ± 0.24 and 0.39 ± 0.19, respectively). No statistically significant difference was found between the groups in FD in t0 (p = 0.15), t1 (p = 0.15), and t2 (p = 0.44). Conclusion: The implementation of FFC was low (46%), which may explain the lack of impact on FD prevention. However, more FFC activities were developed in the experimental group, which suggests a positive impact of the implementation of this philosophy.