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Factors associated with frailty in chronically ill older adults
- Author:
- HACKSTAFF Lynn
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Health Care, 48(8), November 2009, pp.798-811.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
An ex post facto analysis of a secondary dataset examined relationships between physical frailty, depression and the self-perceived domains of health status and quality-of-life in older adults. The randomised sample included 992 community-dwelling, chronically ill and functionally impaired adults age 65 and older who received care from a Southern California Kaiser Permanente medical centre between 1998 and 2002. The purpose of the study was to identify possible intervention junctures related to self-efficacy of older adults in order to help optimise their functionality. Multivariate correlation analyses showed statistically significant positive correlations between frailty level and depression (r = .18; p = < .05), number of medical conditions (r = .09; p = < .05), and self-rated quality-of-life (r = .24; p = < .05). Frailty level showed a statistically significant negative correlation with self-perceived health status (r = -.25; p = < .05). Notably, no statistically significant correlation was found between age and frailty level (r = -.03; p = < .05). In linear regression, self-perceived health status had a partial variance with frailty level (part r = -.18). The significant correlations found support further research to identify interventions to help vulnerable, older adults challenge self-perceived capabilities so that they may achieve optimum functionality through increased physical activity earlier on, and increased self-efficacy to support successful adaptation to ageing-related losses.