A randomised controlled trial of the Home Independence Program, an Australian restorative home-care programme for older adults

A randomised controlled trial was conducted to test the effectiveness of the Home Independence Program (HIP), a restorative home‐care programme for older adults, in reducing the need for ongoing services. Between June 2005 and August 2007, 750 older adults referred to a home‐care service for assistance with their personal care participated in the study and received HIP or ‘usual’ home‐care services. Service outcomes were compared at 3 and 12 months. Subgroups of 150 from each group were also compared on functional and quality of life measures. Data were analysed by ‘intention‐to‐treat’ and ‘as‐treated’. The intention‐to‐treat analysis showed at 3 and 12 months that the HIP group was significantly less likely to need ongoing personal care [Odds ratio (OR) = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.13–0.26, P