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Explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study
BACKGROUND: Most research on multidimensional frailty focuses on deficits and risks of adverse outcomes. However, although some frail older people report a low quality of life (QoL), others still report a relatively high QoL. More knowledge about these discrepancies might give new insight into devel...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5659025/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29073908 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-017-0641-y |
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author | van der Vorst, Anne Zijlstra, G. A. Rixt De Witte, Nico Vogel, Ruth G. M. Schols, Jos M. G. A. Kempen, Gertrudis I. J. M. |
author_facet | van der Vorst, Anne Zijlstra, G. A. Rixt De Witte, Nico Vogel, Ruth G. M. Schols, Jos M. G. A. Kempen, Gertrudis I. J. M. |
author_sort | van der Vorst, Anne |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Most research on multidimensional frailty focuses on deficits and risks of adverse outcomes. However, although some frail older people report a low quality of life (QoL), others still report a relatively high QoL. More knowledge about these discrepancies might give new insight into developing frailty prevention strategies. Therefore, this mixed-method study aimed (a) to identify characteristics related to QoL among frail older people; and (b) to explain discrepancies between higher and lower levels of QoL, with a specific interest in identifying strengths frail older people with a higher QoL still have. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were held with community-dwelling, frail older people with higher (n = 16) and lower levels of QoL (n = 18). Frailty was assessed with the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument, which measures environmental, physical, psychological, and social frailty. Other quantitative measures included socio-demographic characteristics, overall QoL, meaning in life, and mastery. The qualitative part focused on the meaning and maintenance of QoL (among other factors), despite being frail. Possible explanations for discrepancies in QoL were explored. RESULTS: Frail older people with a higher QoL were older, had lower levels of psychological frailty, and reported higher meaning in life compared to those with a lower QoL. Outcomes of qualitative analysis showed that participants in the high QoL subgroup adapted more effectively to difficulties, had more things in prospect, performed more activities, and were more satisfied with their social network compared to the low QoL subgroup. CONCLUSION: This exploratory study suggests possibilities to promote and improve QoL by strengthening specific resources among frail older people. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12877-017-0641-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5659025 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-56590252017-11-01 Explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study van der Vorst, Anne Zijlstra, G. A. Rixt De Witte, Nico Vogel, Ruth G. M. Schols, Jos M. G. A. Kempen, Gertrudis I. J. M. BMC Geriatr Research Article BACKGROUND: Most research on multidimensional frailty focuses on deficits and risks of adverse outcomes. However, although some frail older people report a low quality of life (QoL), others still report a relatively high QoL. More knowledge about these discrepancies might give new insight into developing frailty prevention strategies. Therefore, this mixed-method study aimed (a) to identify characteristics related to QoL among frail older people; and (b) to explain discrepancies between higher and lower levels of QoL, with a specific interest in identifying strengths frail older people with a higher QoL still have. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were held with community-dwelling, frail older people with higher (n = 16) and lower levels of QoL (n = 18). Frailty was assessed with the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument, which measures environmental, physical, psychological, and social frailty. Other quantitative measures included socio-demographic characteristics, overall QoL, meaning in life, and mastery. The qualitative part focused on the meaning and maintenance of QoL (among other factors), despite being frail. Possible explanations for discrepancies in QoL were explored. RESULTS: Frail older people with a higher QoL were older, had lower levels of psychological frailty, and reported higher meaning in life compared to those with a lower QoL. Outcomes of qualitative analysis showed that participants in the high QoL subgroup adapted more effectively to difficulties, had more things in prospect, performed more activities, and were more satisfied with their social network compared to the low QoL subgroup. CONCLUSION: This exploratory study suggests possibilities to promote and improve QoL by strengthening specific resources among frail older people. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12877-017-0641-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2017-10-26 /pmc/articles/PMC5659025/ /pubmed/29073908 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-017-0641-y Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Article van der Vorst, Anne Zijlstra, G. A. Rixt De Witte, Nico Vogel, Ruth G. M. Schols, Jos M. G. A. Kempen, Gertrudis I. J. M. Explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study |
title | Explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study |
title_full | Explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study |
title_fullStr | Explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study |
title_full_unstemmed | Explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study |
title_short | Explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study |
title_sort | explaining discrepancies in self-reported quality of life in frail older people: a mixed-methods study |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5659025/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29073908 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-017-0641-y |
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