Hospitalisation experience and frailty prevention in older patients: a qualitative study

Frailty is associated with an increased risk of falls, delirium, disability, hospitalisation, readmission and nursing home admission. This study aimed to explore the perception of frailty, frailty prevention strategies and hospitalisation experience among frail inpatients and their caregivers.

This qualitative study included frail hospitalised patients in a tertiary hospital and their primary family caregivers who provided physical and social support daily. Face-to-face interviews were conducted from May 2023 to November 2023.

Ten patients (median age 74.3 years) and 11 caregivers (median age 56.0 years) were interviewed. Five themes emerged. We found a lack of understanding and awareness of frailty as well as barriers to preventing it. Due to the decreasing ability to perform daily activities, patients were not actively engaging in preventive activities and seldom used community services owing to inconvenience, financial concerns and a lack of trust in the external party. The majority of patients faced self-care difficulties during hospital stay.

We identified gaps in frailty awareness and specific barriers to and facilitators of frailty prevention. The findings from this study could guide the development and implementation of frailty interventions.