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Older Adults' Perception of Frailty - Study in Progress

  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
  • Introduction:
    As one of the geriatric giants, frailty is a state of decreased physiological reserve and increased vulnerability that results from the collective decline in multiple systems. It manifests as a heterogeneous, multidimensional syndrome. However, several studies have shown that older adults associate many negative aging stereotypes with the term frailty. This study aims to describe how acceptable and useful the term frailty is as viewed by a mixed group of older adults.

    Methods:
    In this qualitative study, we aim to complete approximately 24 interviews with participants aged 65 or older and of a variety of fitness and frailty. The semi-structured interviews are designed to explore participants’ perceptions of the term frailty and the individual components of the medical concept of frailty, as well as perceived utility of the concept of frailty. The Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) is being used to assess the frailty status of each participant. We are employing interpretive description methodology to qualitatively analyze the interview data. Data analysis consists of multiple reads of the transcripts, followed by line-by-line coding, and then the identification of broad themes and patterns in the data based on respondent groups (i.e. frail vs non-frail). 

    Results:
    The study is still within initial analysis of the non-frail participant interviews. First impressions in the non-frail group is described.

    Conclusion:
    This study will describe the relative acceptability and perceived utility of the term and concept of frailty amongst older adults.

  • Date created
    2019-06-01
  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Type of Item
    Conference/Workshop Poster
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-7c5w-gs61
  • License
    Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International