Increased life expectancy is leading to a dramatic rise in the number of people requiring care. The majority of those requiring care are looked after in their own homes. In almost all cases, family members are involved in providing this care to varying degrees. Furthermore, due to the significantly shorter hospital stays over recent years, the need for care is increasingly shifting to the home setting. However, inpatient follow-up care in particular represents a significant weak point in everyday home life when it comes to ensuring the success of treatment and preventing negative health trajectories and the need for care.

Social and physical activities among older people requiring care can make a decisive contribution to preventing adverse health outcomes. In this context, family members not only play a central supporting role, but may also be personally affected by the demands and consequences of the care situation. It is not yet sufficiently understood how activity trajectories develop following an inpatient stay, nor which personal, social and contextual factors prove to be either facilitating or hindering in this context.

As part of this project, we are studying geriatric patients receiving inpatient care and their carers. The first data collection takes place during the hospital stay. The second and third data collections take place 3 and 6 months respectively after discharge, in the home environment.

The aim of our study is to identify trajectories of social and physical activities, as well as the factors influencing them. Furthermore, the insights gained are to be translated into a concept for lifestyle interventions designed to improve the ability of patients and their carers to cope with everyday life.

The SAFRAN team has begun recruitment and data collection.