A Swiss study on informal care patients and their caregivers

The Swiss Integrated Care (INCA) study: establishing a cohort study of patients in reimbursed family care and their caregivers

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN16865563

Enrollment

5000

Registered

2025-02-19

Start date

2025-02-24

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2025-03-03

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Prevention of negative health outcomes and promotion of health-related quality of life among patients in supported informal care in Switzerland. Other

Interventions

Supported informal care: Financial, emotional, and social support for informal caregivers. Enrollment will be initiated and supported by trained nurses hired by the home care agency Pflegewegweiser

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: The study is open to two groups: Patients receiving supported family care through a nursing care prescription from Swiss health insurance and a general practitioner who are: 1. 18 years old and over 2. Registered with the home care agency Pflegewegweiser 3. Fluent in German and cognitively capable of providing written informed consent Caregivers (family members) who are: 1. 18 years old and over 2. Provide care to a participating patient 3. Understand German and are capable and providing written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: Not meeting the participant inclusion criteria

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Health-related quality of life of patients will be measured using the PROMIS-29 (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) questionnaire at month 1 and every following month	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. The needs and preferences of patients will be measured using the interRAI HCSchweiz (International Resident Assessment Instrument Home Care Switzerland) questionnaire at baseline and then every six months 2. Caregiver resilience and burden will be measured using the FARBE (“Fragebogen zur Angehörigenresilienz und -belastung”) questionnaire in regular intervals. 3. Provided care will be captured through the daily care documentation of caregivers. Every day, caregivers will be requested to describe one care task (free text). Caregivers will be also asked to rate their sense of security while performing the task on a 10-point scale, ranging from 0 (very insecure) to 10 (very secure). Following this, they evaluate the well-being of the person they are caring for, choosing from the options ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘normal’, ‘bad’, and ‘very bad’. They will then be asked to provide a reason for the patient's current state of well-being, using either text or the speech transcription function.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. The needs and preferences of patients will be measured using the interRAI HCSchweiz (International Resident Assessment Instrument Home Care Switzerland) questionnaire at baseline and then every six months 2. Caregiver resilience and burden will be measured using the FARBE (“Fragebogen zur Angehörigenresilienz und -belastung”) questionnaire in regular intervals. 3. Provided care will be captured through the daily care documentation of caregivers. Every day, caregivers will be requested to describe one care task (free text). Caregivers will be also asked to rate their sense of security while performing the task on a 10-point scale, ranging from 0 (very insecure) to 10 (very secure). Following this, they evaluate the well-being of the person they are caring for, choosing from the options ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘normal’, ‘bad’, and ‘very bad’. They will then be asked to provide a reason for the patient's current state of well-being, using either text or the speech transcription function.

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Countries

Switzerland

Contacts

Public ContactVasileios Nittas

vasileios.nittas@uzh.ch+41446346173

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026