Abstract
Frailty is a common condition in older age and is a public health concern which requires integrated care and involves different stakeholders. This meta-synthesis focuses on experiences, understanding, and attitudes towards screening, care, intervention and prevention for frailty across frail and healthy older persons, caregivers, health and social care practitioners. Studies published since 2001 were identified through search of electronic databases; 81 eligible papers were identified and read in full, and 45 papers were finally included and synthesized. The synthesis was conducted with a meta-ethnographic approach. We identified four key themes: Uncertainty about malleability of frailty; Strategies to prevent or to respond to frailty; Capacity to care and person and family-centred service provision; Power and choice. A bottom-up approach which emphasises and works in synchrony with frail older people's and their families' values, goals, resources and optimisation strategies is necessary. A greater employment of psychological skills, enhancing communication abilities and tools to overcome disempowering attitudes should inform care organisation, resulting in more efficient and satisfactory use of services. Public health communication about prevention and management of frailty should be founded on a paradigm of resilience, balanced acceptance, and coping. Addressing stakeholders’ views about the preventability of frailty was seen as a salient need.
Highlights
The frailty process appears to be a transitional state in the dynamic progression from robustness to functional decline [2], during which physiological reserves decrease and become less likely to be sufficient for maintenance or repair of the consequences of conditions
Titles and abstracts of these papers were read to identify the relevant papers and this process led to the exclusion of 1485 papers
Maintaining routine [9] and everyday life in familiar surroundings [42] is emphasised by these frail people, and having connections with family [50] and with the external world contribute to preserving identity, while accepting the changing body and circumstances [44]. These findings demonstrate that compensations and new balances, and even continued growth, are possible in face of physical, social and psychological changes
Summary
The second is that of an accumulation of deficits [4] which is flexible to context but, in addition to physical weakness, includes accumulated morbidities, polypharmacy, cognition, mental health and activities of daily living, debate continues as to the range of approaches that are appropriate to detect frailty. Within these two frameworks, many tools have been developed to define a person as robust, pre-frail or frail [5,6,7]. Prevalence of frailty in the population aged over 65 varies from 4 to 17% depending on definition and population, with 26% of over 84s being frail [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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.
