Family Arrangement, Social Support and Frailty Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Mixed Methods Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Objective to analyze, over time, the constitution of the older adults' family arrangements and their relationship with social support, frailty, quality of life and cognition; in addition to verifying existing tensions in the family context from the perspective of these subjects. Method a longitudinal study, using mixed methods and concomitant triangulation. A sociodemographic interview, the Edmonton Frailty Scale, WHOQOL-BREF and OLD, The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Genogram and Ecomap were applied. The quantitative data used the Wilcoxon and Mann Whitney comparison test; and those with a qualitative approach were treated according to Bardin's content analysis, with dialectical materialism as a theoretical framework. Results most of the 84 aged people in the study period (2012/2016-2019) were over 70 years old and female (83.3%). Frailty and cognition did not present a statistically significant relationship with the type of family arrangement. Aged people who lived alone had a worse quality of life in the physical (p=0.044) and psychological (p=0.031) domains. Older adults who lived with grandchildren showed worsening in the social relationship domain (p=0.047) and improvement in the death and dying domain (p<0.001). Three categories and nine subcategories were found, which highlighted the importance of interdependent and supportive relationships in the family. Data integration showed that the family size arrangement and the types of its members do not determine the existence of support, but the bonds formed with family and community. Conclusion frailty and cognition presented no statistical difference with the type of family arrangement, although this relationship was found in some quality of life domains.

Síndrome da fragilidade e qualidade de vida em pessoas idosas hospitalizadas

“…A fragilidade demonstrada por aspectos como perda de peso, dependência funcional, lentidão da marcha, exaustão e fadiga, 23 tem progressão anual e se intensifica com o aumento da idade e os agravos em saúde 24 . A hospitalização possui uma relação significativa com a fragilidade e indica sua prevalência em pessoas idosas considerados préfrágeis e frágeis, com faixa etária maior que 60 anos, 25 levando a compreensão da sua relação é inversamente proporcional com a QV 24 .…”

Frailty syndrome and quality of life in hospitalized older adults

“…Frailty manifesting with weight loss, functional dependence, slowed gait, exhaustion and fatigue, 23 progresses year by year and worsens with advancing age and health problems 24 . A significant relationship of frailty with hospitalization was found, showing its prevalence in pre-frail and frail older individuals aged over 60 years, 25 revealing an inversely proportional relation with QoL 24 .…”

Exploring the Landscape of Eco-Mapping in Health Services Research: A Comprehensive Review

“…Most studies reported a qualitative study design (n � 58) [17,18,21,[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] and , followed by mixed methods (n � 9) [95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103] and quantitative designs (n � 3) [22,104,105]. Data collection methods consisted of semistructured interviews alone (n � 36) [17, 41-44, 46, 48, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 61-65, 67, 69, 70, 72, 76, 78-81, 83-85, 88, 89, 92, 93, 104] or interviews combined with focus groups [77,98], surveys [22,95,96,[99][100][101][102][103], participant observations [49,51,…”

“…First, 24 studies reported an objective of mapping individuals' social, helping or care networks, psychosocial profles, support systems and needs, and social capital [21, 22, 42, 44, 45, 48-50, 52, 55, 57, 64, 65, 68, 73, 78, 84, 93, 95-97, 100, 103], and one paper considered longitudinally the constitution of support networks [66]. Fifteen studies aimed to understand the family structure, function, or organization [56,102], while some were in response to family violence [41,47], addressing chronic and acute mental and physical health conditions [46, 51, 58-60, 70, 74, 79, 101, 105], and natural disasters [54]. Ten studies described participants' use of services and resources, including types of formal social support accessed [63, 69, 72, 81-83, 85, 86, 88, 106].…”