Study treatments
Usual NHS surgical and rehabilitation care was received by both control and intervention groups.The HIP HELPER intervention has been previously described.In practice, people randomised to the experimental group received the usual NHS care in addition to the HIP HELPER programme. The only difference between the groups was the addition of three, 60 min, health professional–caregiver dyad HIP HELPER training sessions, performed in the hospital setting while the patient was an inpatient, and three follow-up telephone calls one, 3 and 6 weeks after hospital discharge. In the inpatient sessions, participants were taught about the normal recovery process, and skills in goal setting, pacing, activity behaviour modification and stress management. They were also taught skills on manual handling, transfers, walking and how to support people with ADLs. The follow-up telephone calls aimed to re-enforce the skills developed in the face-to-face sessions, support any setbacks in recovery and to develop longer term goals.Each health professional (physiotherapist, occupational therapist or nurse) who delivered the experimental intervention attended a 1-day training session, which taught the components and format of the programme. To promote compliance with the treatment protocol, the Central Trial Team had regular contact with clinical team members, reviewing the first HIP HELPER sessions for intervention fidelity and held monthly meetings regarding study processes.