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danceSing Care Evaluation: Testing the Feasibility

A Realist Evaluation of the Feasibility of a Digital Music and Movement Intervention for Older People Living in Care Homes

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05559203
Enrollment
47
Registered
2022-09-29
Start date
2021-11-01
Completion date
2022-06-01
Last updated
2025-08-03

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

Conditions

Aged, Aging, Healthy Aging, Older Adults

Keywords

feasibility study, realist evaluation, care homes, clinical trial, physical activity, digital intervention, music and movement intervention, dance intervention

Brief summary

* The investigators wanted to find out if digital music and movement resources could be delivered in care homes. They rolled out a 12-week programme to 10 care homes and had 47 care home residents participate in the research. * The investigators also wanted to find out under what circumstances the digital music and movement resources would be most effective for the health and wellbeing of the care home residents. * A survey measuring the number of falls in the past three months, activities of daily living and health, psychosocial wellbeing (anxiety, depression, stress and loneliness), sleep satisfaction and frailty measures such as appetite and weight loss) was completed before and after the intervention. Also, interviews with residents and focus groups with staff were done after the intervention to find out how they felt about the programme.

Detailed description

The specific research objectives were to evaluate the following topics: 1. Feasibility: was the activity implemented and/or delivered as planned? Were the resources suitable for this setting? Were adherence rates at an acceptable level? 2. Context: what is the role of the care homes in providing resources to the Activity Coordinators (ACs)? In what circumstances would the programme have worked most efficiently? What were the potential barriers for care homes or ACs to provide these resources? 3. Mechanism: what underlying mechanisms made the danceSing Care programme work (or not)? Was it the situational context or the programme context? 4. Outcome: What were the results? Were the outcomes adequate and realistic for this programme? 5. Moderators: were moderating factors responsible? By moderating factors, we are referring to contextual factors that are out of the program's control but may help or hinder the achievement of the outcomes.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALdanceSing Care

The programme was a digital movement and music programme with resources from danceSing Care and consisted of three movement sessions and one music session each week, the recommended dose agreed between danceSing Care and the Advisory group, each lasting about 20 minutes. Also, the danceSing care resources were designed to suit older adults with physical and cognitive impairments (residents with mobility aids and/or dementia). Movement sessions included chair and standing fitness, which started with a warm-up and finished with stretching exercises. Sessions were managed and supervised by care home activity coordinators.

Sponsors

University of Stirling
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* residents in care homes ≥ 65 years, * able to complete 12 weeks of a movement and music program, * having the capacity to give informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

* currently taking part in any other clinical trial which could potentially have an impact upon or influence the findings of the current study, * pre-existing conditions or concurrent diagnoses which would profoundly impact their capacity to undergo the intervention, even once adaptations have been made, * inability to understand written/spoken English adequately to participate in the measures and intervention (e.g., due to cognitive or sensory impairment).

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Participants' Programme Adherence as % Sessions Attended Out of the Possible Maximum Number of Sessions Delivered Per Care Home Aggregated as % Across All Care Homes.Will be evaluated after completion of the 12-week intervention periodThe activity coordinators will fill in participants' adherence after each session. The completed files will be sent through to the investigators. Individual participants' adherence is calculated as the number of sessions they individually attended out of the possible number of sessions available to them in their care home. This is reported as the percentage of attended sessions per person per care home out of those delivered averaged per care home then aggregated across all care homes.
Number of Sessions Delivered, Assessed by Attendance FilesWill be evaluated after completion after the completion of the 12-week intervention periodThe activity coordinators will fill in participants' adherence after each session. The completed files will be sent through to the investigators.
Acceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Focus Groups - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.1 month after completion after the completion of the 12-week intervention periodInvestigators will conduct focus groups with the activity coordinators to assess acceptability of the intervention. Guide questions included: Did you enjoy using the danceSing Care online activities? Did you manage to take part in the 3+1 sessions a week? If not, why? Would you say duration of sessions was appropriate? Did you complete most of sessions or have to stop at any point? What did you like about the DSC activities? Was there anything you did not like? If you could change something about this programme to make it work effectively here, what would you change and why? Why did you take part? What made you continue to take part? What do you consider the outcomes of this program to have been for you? Would you like to carry on engaging in the DSC activities? Why/why not? Do you feel part of the DSC family/champions? Has engaging in the DSC activities brought you closer to other residents and staff?
Acceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Interviews - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.1 month after completion after the completion of the 12-week intervention periodInvestigators will conduct focus groups/interviews with residents to assess acceptability of the intervention. Guide questions included: Did you enjoy using the danceSing Care online activities? Did you manage to take part in the 3+1 sessions a week? If not, why? Would you say duration of sessions was appropriate? Did you complete most of sessions or have to stop at any point? What did you like about the DSC activities? Was there anything you did not like? If you could change something about this programme to make it work effectively here, what would you change and why? Why did you take part? What made you continue to take part? What do you consider the outcomes of this program to have been for you? Would you like to carry on engaging in the DSC activities? Why/why not? Do you feel part of the DSC family/champions? Has engaging in the DSC activities brought you closer to other residents and staff?

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention periodIndividual scores on the PSS can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress.
Change in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Brief UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6)Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention periodUsing a 4-point rating scale (1= never; 4 = always), participants answer 6 questions, such as How often do you feel left out? and How often do you feel part of a group of friends?. The Brief UCLA Loneliness scale is summed across items to give one total score. The range for total score is 6-24. A higher score indicates worse loneliness, i.e. a worse outcome.
Change in Fear of Falling Between Baseline and Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Falls Efficacy Scale - International (Short Form)(FES-I)Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention periodIt is a 16 item questionnaire, useful to the researchers and clinicians interested in fear of falling, with a score ranging from minimum 16 (no concern about falling) to maximum 64 (severe concern about falling).
Change in Participant's Appetite From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ)Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention periodThis is used for limited frailty testing, a self-assessment nutritional screening tool that predicts weight loss, scoring 1 (very poor) to 4 (very good) on appetite-related topics.
Change in Participant's Sleep Satisfaction From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep Satisfaction Tool (SST)Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period9-item questionnaire (scoring 1 not satisfied to 4 very satisfied) to assesses the general population's sleep satisfaction. The SST scale is summed across items to give one total score. The range for total score is 9-36.
Change in Participant's Activities of Daily Living and Health-related Quality of Life From Baseline to Within One Month of the Completion of the Intervention Using The Dartmouth COOP ChartsBaseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention periodChange in participant's Activities of daily living and health-related quality of life from baseline to within one month of the completion of the intervention using The Dartmouth COOP which has 5-point Likert-type scaling, with descriptors and cartoon illustrations of levels 1 through 5. Rating of 1 = no impairment, 5 = most impaired.
Change in Participant's Activities of Daily Living and Health-related Quality of Life From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using EQ-5D-3LBaseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention periodThe EQ-5D-3L descriptive system comprises the following five questions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each question has a 3-point scale for rating it: no problems, some problems, and extreme problems (1-3). The patient is asked to indicate his/her health state by ticking the box next to the most appropriate statement in each of the five dimensions. This decision results into a 1-digit number that expresses the level selected for that dimension. The digits for the five dimensions are then combined to describe the patient's health state, with a higher TOTAL score describing a worse outcome. The range for total score is 5-15.
Change in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention periodThe HADS questionnaire has seven items each for depression and anxiety subscales. Scoring for each item ranges from zero to three, with three denoting highest anxiety or depression level. A total subscale score of \>8 points out of a possible 21 denotes considerable symptoms of anxiety or depression. No total score is reported. Anxiety and Depression sub-scale totals are calculated separately by summing responses to the applicable 7 items each. The range for each sub-scale is 0-21. A higher score indicates a worse outcome.

Countries

United Kingdom

Participant flow

Recruitment details

2 did not meet eligibility criteria resulting in 47 participants enrolled across 10 care homes

Pre-assignment details

did not meet age inclusion criterion

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Intervention Group n = 47 Allocated
Digital music and movement resources. danceSing Care: The programme was a digital movement and music programme with resources from danceSing Care (https://dancesingcare.uk/) and consisted of three movement sessions and one music session each week, the recommended dose agreed between danceSing Care and the Advisory group, each lasting about 20 minutes. Also, the danceSing care resources were designed to suit older adults with physical and cognitive impairments (residents with mobility aids and/or dementia). Movement sessions included chair and standing fitness, which started with a warm-up and finished with stretching exercises. Sessions were managed and supervised by care home activity coordinators.
33
Total33

Withdrawals & dropouts

PeriodReasonFG000
Overall StudyIntervention not implemented at their care home due to insufficient staff14

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicIntervention Group n = 47 Allocated
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
0 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
33 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
0 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Hispanic or Latino
0 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Not Hispanic or Latino
32 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
1 Participants
Region of Enrollment
United Kingdom
33 participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
28 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
5 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
3 / 47
other
Total, other adverse events
0 / 47
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 47

Outcome results

Primary

Acceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Focus Groups - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.

Investigators will conduct focus groups with the activity coordinators to assess acceptability of the intervention. Guide questions included: Did you enjoy using the danceSing Care online activities? Did you manage to take part in the 3+1 sessions a week? If not, why? Would you say duration of sessions was appropriate? Did you complete most of sessions or have to stop at any point? What did you like about the DSC activities? Was there anything you did not like? If you could change something about this programme to make it work effectively here, what would you change and why? Why did you take part? What made you continue to take part? What do you consider the outcomes of this program to have been for you? Would you like to carry on engaging in the DSC activities? Why/why not? Do you feel part of the DSC family/champions? Has engaging in the DSC activities brought you closer to other residents and staff?

Time frame: 1 month after completion after the completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: Five core themes emerged from 2 focus groups with 5 activity coordinators (care staff) across 2 focus groups. Exemplar quotes are given in the publication from this study.

ArmMeasureCategoryValue (COUNT_OF_UNITS)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Focus Groups - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Modifications1 qualitative themes
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Focus Groups - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Future Refinements1 qualitative themes
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Focus Groups - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Adherence - participation and class size1 qualitative themes
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Focus Groups - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Delivery challenges with intervention1 qualitative themes
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Focus Groups - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Intervention Effects1 qualitative themes
Primary

Acceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Interviews - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.

Investigators will conduct focus groups/interviews with residents to assess acceptability of the intervention. Guide questions included: Did you enjoy using the danceSing Care online activities? Did you manage to take part in the 3+1 sessions a week? If not, why? Would you say duration of sessions was appropriate? Did you complete most of sessions or have to stop at any point? What did you like about the DSC activities? Was there anything you did not like? If you could change something about this programme to make it work effectively here, what would you change and why? Why did you take part? What made you continue to take part? What do you consider the outcomes of this program to have been for you? Would you like to carry on engaging in the DSC activities? Why/why not? Do you feel part of the DSC family/champions? Has engaging in the DSC activities brought you closer to other residents and staff?

Time frame: 1 month after completion after the completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: 4 residents in 4 semi-structured interviews. Exemplar quotes are in the publication of the study.

ArmMeasureCategoryValue (COUNT_OF_UNITS)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Interviews - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Adherence1 qualitative themes
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Interviews - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Delivery challenges - Motivation and engagement1 qualitative themes
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Interviews - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Modifications1 qualitative themes
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Interviews - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Intervention Effects1 qualitative themes
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedAcceptability of the Intervention Assessed by Interviews - Semi-structured Questions Covering Subjective Views on Enjoyment, Motivation, Duration, Content Etc.Future Implementation1 qualitative themes
Primary

Number of Sessions Delivered, Assessed by Attendance Files

The activity coordinators will fill in participants' adherence after each session. The completed files will be sent through to the investigators.

Time frame: Will be evaluated after completion after the completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: Adherence across all carehomes allocated to the intervention, 7 delivered the intervention. Number of sessions delivered out of the recommended 48, then averaged across all 7 care homes.

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_UNITS)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedNumber of Sessions Delivered, Assessed by Attendance Files193 Delivered Sessions
Primary

Participants' Programme Adherence as % Sessions Attended Out of the Possible Maximum Number of Sessions Delivered Per Care Home Aggregated as % Across All Care Homes.

The activity coordinators will fill in participants' adherence after each session. The completed files will be sent through to the investigators. Individual participants' adherence is calculated as the number of sessions they individually attended out of the possible number of sessions available to them in their care home. This is reported as the percentage of attended sessions per person per care home out of those delivered averaged per care home then aggregated across all care homes.

Time frame: Will be evaluated after completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: calculates the number of sessions attended on average out of the possible maximum number of sessions delivered

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_UNITS)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedParticipants' Programme Adherence as % Sessions Attended Out of the Possible Maximum Number of Sessions Delivered Per Care Home Aggregated as % Across All Care Homes.116 Delivered Sessions
Secondary

Change in Fear of Falling Between Baseline and Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Falls Efficacy Scale - International (Short Form)(FES-I)

It is a 16 item questionnaire, useful to the researchers and clinicians interested in fear of falling, with a score ranging from minimum 16 (no concern about falling) to maximum 64 (severe concern about falling).

Time frame: Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: Only 18 participants retained capacity to continue to consent and capacity to complete follow-up measures. Outcomes are mean difference from baseline to post-intervention.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Fear of Falling Between Baseline and Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Falls Efficacy Scale - International (Short Form)(FES-I)-.556 units on a scale
Comparison: Feasibility study so no power calculation. N = 18 with baseline and follow-up data.p-value: 0.752t-test, 2 sided
Secondary

Change in Participant's Activities of Daily Living and Health-related Quality of Life From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using EQ-5D-3L

The EQ-5D-3L descriptive system comprises the following five questions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each question has a 3-point scale for rating it: no problems, some problems, and extreme problems (1-3). The patient is asked to indicate his/her health state by ticking the box next to the most appropriate statement in each of the five dimensions. This decision results into a 1-digit number that expresses the level selected for that dimension. The digits for the five dimensions are then combined to describe the patient's health state, with a higher TOTAL score describing a worse outcome. The range for total score is 5-15.

Time frame: Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: 18 with pre- and post-intervention data. Mean difference measure between their TOTAL score at baseline and post-intervention.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Participant's Activities of Daily Living and Health-related Quality of Life From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using EQ-5D-3L.278 units on a scale
p-value: 0.562t-test, 2 sided
Secondary

Change in Participant's Activities of Daily Living and Health-related Quality of Life From Baseline to Within One Month of the Completion of the Intervention Using The Dartmouth COOP Charts

Change in participant's Activities of daily living and health-related quality of life from baseline to within one month of the completion of the intervention using The Dartmouth COOP which has 5-point Likert-type scaling, with descriptors and cartoon illustrations of levels 1 through 5. Rating of 1 = no impairment, 5 = most impaired.

Time frame: Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: 18 with pre- and post-intervention data. Mean difference measure.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Participant's Activities of Daily Living and Health-related Quality of Life From Baseline to Within One Month of the Completion of the Intervention Using The Dartmouth COOP Charts1.167 units on a scale
Comparison: Feasibility study so no power calculation. N = 18 with baseline and follow-up data.p-value: 0.197t-test, 2 sided
Secondary

Change in Participant's Appetite From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ)

This is used for limited frailty testing, a self-assessment nutritional screening tool that predicts weight loss, scoring 1 (very poor) to 4 (very good) on appetite-related topics.

Time frame: Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: 18 with pre- and post-intervention data. Mean difference measure.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Participant's Appetite From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ).167 units on a scale
p-value: 0.781t-test, 2 sided
Secondary

Change in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Brief UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6)

Using a 4-point rating scale (1= never; 4 = always), participants answer 6 questions, such as How often do you feel left out? and How often do you feel part of a group of friends?. The Brief UCLA Loneliness scale is summed across items to give one total score. The range for total score is 6-24. A higher score indicates worse loneliness, i.e. a worse outcome.

Time frame: Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: 18 with pre- and post-intervention data. Mean difference measure.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Brief UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6)1.667 units on a scale
p-value: 0.042t-test, 2 sided
Secondary

Change in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)

The HADS questionnaire has seven items each for depression and anxiety subscales. Scoring for each item ranges from zero to three, with three denoting highest anxiety or depression level. A total subscale score of \>8 points out of a possible 21 denotes considerable symptoms of anxiety or depression. No total score is reported. Anxiety and Depression sub-scale totals are calculated separately by summing responses to the applicable 7 items each. The range for each sub-scale is 0-21. A higher score indicates a worse outcome.

Time frame: Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: 18 with pre- and post-intervention data. Mean difference measure. For anxiety and depression separately.

ArmMeasureGroupValue (MEAN)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)Anxiety2.111 units on a scale
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)Depression3.0 units on a scale
Comparison: Anxiety subscalep-value: 0.02t-test, 2 sided
Comparison: Depression subscalep-value: 0.002t-test, 2 sided
Secondary

Change in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

Individual scores on the PSS can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress.

Time frame: Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: 18 with pre- and post-intervention data. Mean difference measure.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Participant's Psychosocial Wellbeing From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)4.167 units on a scale
p-value: 0.036t-test, 2 sided
Secondary

Change in Participant's Sleep Satisfaction From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep Satisfaction Tool (SST)

9-item questionnaire (scoring 1 not satisfied to 4 very satisfied) to assesses the general population's sleep satisfaction. The SST scale is summed across items to give one total score. The range for total score is 9-36.

Time frame: Baseline and within 1 month of completion of the 12-week intervention period

Population: 18 with pre- and post-intervention data. Mean difference measure.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Intervention Group n = 47 AllocatedChange in Participant's Sleep Satisfaction From Baseline to Within One Month of Completing the Intervention Using the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep Satisfaction Tool (SST)-6.667 units on a scale
p-value: <0.001t-test, 2 sided

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 11, 2026