Background

The project “Nursing Facilities – Movement-Friendly Organizations” (PfleBeO) was initiated in 2019 by the association of private health insurers (Verband der privaten Krankenversicherung e.V.; PKV-Verband) in Germany. In 2020, the University of Hamburg, Faculty of Psychology and Movement Science, was commissioned to conduct the sub-project “Outcome evaluation and development of an assessment tool to evaluate the movement-promoting structural change processes and their impact on the daily activity of the residents of inpatient care facilities” (sub-project no. 3; Lead: Prof. Dr. Bettina Wollesen). Since 2022, the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health (DSBG) of the University of Basel is a cooperation partner and supports the University of Hamburg in the specification of the assessment instrument and the implementation of a feasibility and validation study (working package no. 5).

Objective

To test the reliability, validity, feasibility and acceptability of a newly developed assessment instrument for measuring the mobility of people in need of care in inpatient care facilities and its influencing factors.

Methods

The assessment will be carried out twice (test-retest) at the Hamburg and Basel sites with residents and staff of selected care facilities. The residents’ functional (e.g. walking speed, balance) and spatial (“life space”) mobility and their influencing factors (e.g. cognition, fear of falling) will be measured. Using movement sensors, physical inactivity will be recorded over a period of 7 days. The senior staff of the nursing facilities will be interviewed in particular about the facility’s characteristics, environmental factors, accessibility and prioritization of mobility promotion. The survey of nursing staff is used, among other things, to record daily stress and autonomy at work, occupational self-efficacy expectations, resilience and individual well-being.

Outlook

The aim is to provide nursing facilities with a valid and reliable instrument that can be easily integrated into everyday routine, enabling them to identify the need for action with regard to promoting the mobility of their residents, to take targeted measures, and to monitor and evaluate potential changes in the course of time.