NCT06646939

Comparison of Community Reintegration Interventions When Using a Simulated Environment

Comparison of Community Reintegration Interventions Relative to the Institution of a Simulated Environment in Inpatient Rehabilitation and Pilot Study of the Impact of Simulated Environment on Functional Outcomes

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 13 (actual)
• Sponsor: Weill Medical College of Cornell University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The investigators believe that rehabilitation specialists will use community reintegration treatments more if a simulated environment is available.

Detailed description

Community reintegration training has always been a significant aspect of inpatient rehabilitation recovery. Community reintegration training involved therapists and patients going into the actual community to evaluate and practice their functional tasks such as negotiating curbs, crosswalks, or marketplaces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this option was not available. The absence of this intervention made it challenging for therapists to evaluate a patient's safety to return home. Creating a simulated environment within the inpatient rehabilitation department became an alternative to taking patients to an outside environment. Saji, et al. (2015) demonstrated that utilization of a simulated environment enhanced functional improvements of post-acute stroke patients at 12 convalescent rehabilitation wards. New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center (NYP- WCMC) has constructed a simulated environment for the purposes of enhancing community reintegration training. This project will test its use and efficacy. The availability of this simulated environment may be more time-efficient and safer than community reintegration training outside of the department or hospital. Training in the simulated environment may improve the functional ability of individuals undergoing inpatient rehabilitation, in accordance with the degree of use of the simulated environment. Greater use of the simulated environment may predict greater functional improvements. This study will collect pilot data about functional outcomes and patient perspectives about their balance confidence, their ability to perform functional tasks, and the efficacy of the use of simulated environment for community reintegration. This pilot data will seed a future efficacy study with a comparison group.

Conditions

• Simulated Environments for Community Reintegration

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	PT and OT with a simulated environment	Upon admission to the inpatient rehabilitation unit, participants will undergo a physical and occupational therapy evaluation. The evaluations will include the outcome measures chosen to track for this study (10-meter walk test and Quality Indicators). If a patient meets inclusion/exclusion criteria, informed written consent will be obtained. Throughout the patient's stay, therapists will have the opportunity to perform community integration treatments using the simulated environment. This could include activities such as negotiating a curb, crossing a street, or shopping at a marketplace. The therapist will document the amount of time (units billed) spent performing these interventions. The research investigators will not act as a patient's therapist throughout their admission.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-07-05
• Primary completion: 2025-12-09
• Completion: 2025-12-09
• First posted: 2024-10-17
• Last updated: 2026-02-25

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States