Effects of interferential care: A community-based care program for persons with severe problems on several life areas

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Interferential care differs from the current community-based care programs in that it targets a larger, heterogeneous group and combines brokerage and full service elements in a multi-organizational care team. The team provides all the services itself, but with the aim to prepare clients within a few months for referral to regular (ambulant) healthcare services. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of interferential care. METHODS In a multisite, pretest-posttest design, 523 patients of three interferential care teams were followed. Quality of life, problem severity, problems with referral and engagement were assessed at baseline, at referral and again after 6 months. Analyses were performed using linear mixed modeling. RESULTS Interferential care showed moderate to strong effects on quality of life and problem severity. These effects persisted (quality of life) or further improved (problem severity) until follow-up 6 months after referral to regular services. There were also small effects on both engagement and problems with referral. CONCLUSION Interferential care offers significant improvements in quality of life and problem severity in persons who have severe problems on several life areas and who are currently not reached by healthcare services. It is a promising community-based care program for healthcare systems in which regular care already contains many elements of home-based practice.