Managing Complexity: Black Older Adults With Multimorbidity

Black older adults have higher rates of multimorbidity and receive less effective multimorbidity support than their white counterparts. Yet little is known about the experiences of Black older adults with multimorbidity that may be at the heart of those disparities and which are central to interventions and improving care for this population. In this study, we aimed to conceptualize the multimorbidity management (MM) experience for Black older adults.

As part of a larger study on Black older adults' multimorbidity and physician empathy, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 30 Black older adults living in a large midwestern city in the United States aged 65 years and older with self-reported multimorbidity. We used grounded theory analysis to distill findings into a core conceptual category as well as component domains and dimensions.

"Managing complexity" emerged as the core category to describe MM in our sample. Managing complexity included domains of "social context," "daily logistics," "care time," and "care roles."

We discuss how managing complexity is distinct from patient complexity and how it is related to cumulative inequality and precarity. Study findings have potential implications for intervention around provider education and empathy as well as for enabling agency of Black older adults with MM.