Swedish health care professionals' view of frailty in older persons

• There is a paucity of research literature concerning frailty in older persons from the health care professionals' perspective. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to elucidate health care professionals' view of frailty in older persons. An explorative, qualitative design was selected and four focus groups comprising 21 health care professionals were conducted, audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed. Frailty was found to consist of seven dimensions: "being bodily weak and ill," "being negatively influenced by personal qualities," "lacking balance in everyday activities," "being dependent in everyday life," "not being considered important," "being hindered by the physical milieu and defective community service," and "having an inadequate social network." The results showed that health care professionals' view of frailty in older persons differed from the current state of knowledge on frailty. This implies that the seven dimensions found to constitute frailty could contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the concept.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Annan medicin och hälsovetenskap -- Gerontologi, medicinsk/hälsovetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Other Medical and Health Sciences -- Gerontology, specialising in Medical and Health Sciences (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

focus groups

frail elderly

qualitative research

article

daily life activity

health care personnel

health personnel attitude

human

nurse

nurse attitude

occupational therapist

occupational therapist attitude

physiotherapist

physiotherapist attitude

social network

social welfare

social worker

social worker attitude

frail elderly

focus groups

qualitative research

functional decline

elderly-people

experiences

disability

community

perspective

definition

judgment

adults

team

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)