Abstract
BackgroundThere are inequities in health status associated with ethnicity, which may limit older foreign-born persons’ ability to age optimally. Health promotion for older persons who have experienced migration is thus an area of public health importance. However, since research related to this issue is very limited, the study ‘Promoting Aging Migrants’ Capabilities’ was initiated to improve our understanding. The study aims to implement and evaluate a linguistically adapted, evidence-based, health-promoting intervention with a person-centred approach for two of the largest groups of aging persons who have migrated to Sweden: persons from Finland and persons from the Balkan Peninsula.Methods/DesignThis study has a descriptive, analytical, and experimental design. It is both a randomised controlled trial and an implementation study, containing the collection and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data. The setting is an urban district in a medium-sized Swedish city with a high proportion of persons who were born abroad and whose socio-economic status is low. The intervention comprises four group meetings (‘senior meetings’) and one follow-up home visit made by a multi-professional team. For the randomised controlled trial, the plan is to recruit at least 130 community-dwelling persons 70 years or older from the target group. Additional persons from involved organisations will participate in the study of the implementation. Both the intervention effects in the target group (outcome) and the results of the implementation process (output) will be evaluated.DiscussionThe results of this forthcoming randomised controlled trial and implementation study may be useful for optimising implementation of person-centred, health-promoting initiatives for older persons who have experienced migration. It is also hoped that this combined study will show that the capabilities for optimal aging among older persons born in Finland and the Balkan countries can be improved in the Swedish healthcare context.Trial registrationThe trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov April 10, 2013, identifier: NCT01841853.
Highlights
There are inequities in health status associated with ethnicity, which may limit older foreign-born persons’ ability to age optimally
The results of this forthcoming randomised controlled trial and implementation study may be useful for optimising implementation of person-centred, health-promoting initiatives for older persons who have experienced migration
It is hoped that this combined study will show that the capabilities for optimal aging among older persons born in Finland and the Balkan countries can be improved in the Swedish healthcare context
Summary
It is critical that every clinical study has a complete and transparent protocol, which can facilitate trial conduct and appraisal by communicating relevant information to key stakeholders. In designing the Promoting Aging Migrants’ Capabilities Study, we address older persons who have migrated to Sweden, which is a growing proportion of the older population. Health-promoting interventions among older persons can lead to great gains, both health-wise and economically, for both the individual and society. They can prevent the onset of injury and illness and support optimal aging. The results may be useful for optimising the implementation of personcentred, health-promoting initiatives and for improving the capabilities for optimal aging among older persons born in Finland and countries in the Balkan Peninsula in the Swedish healthcare context. Authors’ contributions SG leads the implementation of the study together with GHK, and was the primary author of the study protocol. All authors contributed to refinement of the study protocol and approved the final manuscript
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