PERSONAL AGILITY
The development of the PERSONAL-AGILITY programme
Study title
The number of people living with two or more chronic conditions (also called multiple long-term conditions) is increasing. Multiple long-term conditions can affect people’s:
ability to ‘bounce back’ from illness
independence
quality of life.
People living with multiple long-term conditions are also more likely to have additional care needs.
24-hour health behaviours include all the ways we might move through a typical day, from limited/no movement to high-intensity activities. These behaviours are:
sleep
sitting/ breaking up prolonged sitting (also termed sedentary behaviour)
stepping (walking)
sweating (moderate to vigorous physical activity)
strengthening (resistance exercise)
Supporting people with multiple long-term conditions to improve their ‘24-hour health behaviours’ may improve their health, wellbeing, independence and quality of life.
Informal carer support can improve the 24-hour health behaviours of the people they care for. For carers themselves, improving 24-hour health behaviours can also:
positively influence some of the physical and mental wellbeing challenges linked with caring.
help to reduce carers risk of developing multiple long-term conditions themselves or support them to manage existing ones.
Despite this, there are many barriers to being active and getting sufficient sleep if you are both living with, and caring for someone with, multiple long-term conditions. There is currently limited support for and very little research in this area.
Background
Overall, we aim to design and test a programme to improve the health and well-being of people with multiple long-term health conditions, and those who care for them, equally.
We have designed a ‘prototype’ programme in partnership with people with multiple long-term conditions, those who care for them and healthcare professionals. The aim of this study is to:
Understand what people living with multiple long-term conditions think of the programme we have developed.
Identify where it might need changing to make it as useful and easy to use as possible.
Study aims
Taking part in this study involves:
Completing some short questionnaires with the help of the research team
Meeting with us twice:
At the first meeting you will be asked for some information on your ability to stand from a chair, your balance, and your wellbeing. We will give you a small device, like a watch to wear on your wrist for 3 days. This measures how much time you spend sleeping, sitting and moving.
At the second meeting you will take part in an interview with the researcher You will be asked to try out a ‘prototype’ of the programme, talking out loud as you use it and commenting on what you think. The information in the programme will be based specifically on the information from the first meeting and the data from the device. This will help give you a more realistic experience of what the programme is like so you can provide more specific feedback. This is called a ‘Think-aloud’ interview. The interview will last no more than 60-90 minutes.
We will reimburse participants for their time for the interview (£20 shopping voucher), for travel expenses (for in-person visits, up to £25) and if applicable, caring costs (up to £15 per hour).
Study summary
Study progress
This study is currently recruiting participants. If you are:
a healthcare professional who regularly provides support to people with multiple long-term conditions, as part of their usual role OR
are 16 or over and provide regular, informal (unpaid) care to someone living with multiple long-term conditions for 3 months or over. Informal care includes emotional support, prompting with taking medications, getting prescriptions, managing, and organising appointments and care tasks, encouraging participation in social events and physical activity, helping with household tasks, or providing physical care OR
are over 16 years old, are living with two or more long-term conditions and may experience challenges bouncing back from illness or injury, or health challenges or be finding daily tasks more challenging, feeling more tired, or slowed up.
And (for all groups) are mobile (even if only minimally) and able to safely exercise (although we will not be asking you to exercise as part of this study)
You may be eligible to take part. If you would like to find out more, without obligation to take part, please email Hannah.young@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
The study is sponsored by the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, and funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research.
Funding and sponsorship
None yet
Study publications
Data protection
Principal Investigator: Dr Hannah Young
For more information, please contact: Hannah.young@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
Research team