Abstract
BackgroundFrailty syndrome disproportionately affects older people, including 15% of non-nursing home population, and is known to be a strong predictor of poor health outcomes. There is a growing interest in incorporating frailty assessment into research and clinical practice, which may provide an opportunity to improve in home frailty assessment and improve doctor patient communication.MethodsWe conducted focus groups discussions to solicit input from older adult care recipients (non-frail, pre-frail, and frail), their informal caregivers, and medical providers about their preferences to tailor a mobile app to measure frailty in the home using sensor based technologies. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically.ResultsWe identified three major themes: 1) perspectives of frailty; 2) perceptions of home based sensors; and 3) data management concerns. These relate to the participants’ insight, attitudes and concerns about having sensor-based technology to measure frailty in the home. Our qualitative findings indicate that knowing frailty status is important and useful and would allow older adults to remain independent longer. Participants also noted concerns with data management and the hope that this technology would not replace in-person visits with their healthcare provider.ConclusionsThis study found that study participants of each frailty status expressed high interest and acceptance of sensor-based technologies. Based on the qualitative findings of this study, sensor-based technologies show promise for frailty assessment of older adults with care needs. The main concerns identified related to the volume of data collected and strategies for responsible and secure transfer, reporting, and distillation of data into useful and timely care information. Sensor-based technologies should be piloted for feasibility and utility. This will inform the larger goal of helping older adults to maintain independence while tracking potential health declines, especially among the most vulnerable, for early detection and intervention. Keywords: Frailty, wearable, health services.
Highlights
Frailty syndrome disproportionately affects older people, including 15% of non-nursing home population, and is known to be a strong predictor of poor health outcomes
While a number of different studies have investigated the use of sensors to measure phenotypic characteristics of frailty, and other studies have assessed older adults’ understanding of frailty [17], there has been only one study of the views of stakeholders regarding the acceptability and adoption of health-related technology solutions for frailty screening and management [18]. The stakeholders in this previous study, conducted in three European countries included frail and robust older adults, their family caregivers, as well as health and social care professionals. Consistent with their findings, we found that the stakeholders in our study all recognized the potential value in the use of sensor technology in frailty screening and monitoring with respect to objectivity and timeliness of data collection and earlier detection of health changes that can result in better health outcomes and cost savings
Our study was unique in that patient-caregiver dyads were included to better delineate converging vs. diverging role-dependent views and the use of a diverse pool of medical providers caring for patients with a full spectrum of frailty status improved the generalizability of the opinions
Summary
Frailty syndrome disproportionately affects older people, including 15% of non-nursing home population, and is known to be a strong predictor of poor health outcomes. Between 2015 and 2050, the global percentage of adults ages 65 years will nearly double from 8.5 to 16.7% [1]. Given this demographic shift, a major challenge of healthcare worldwide is providing medical care for vulnerable older adults with complex health problems. A common condition among geriatric patients is the frailty syndrome, which affects 15% of non-nursing home residents aged 65 and older in the US [2] and up to 27.3% globally [3]. A consensus statement by an international group of researchers proposed that adults 70 years or older should be screened for physical frailty, and that the frailty diagnosis can guide clinical care planning [5]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
