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- Title
Leben und Sterben mit Gebrechlichkeit.
- Authors
Klindtworth, Katharina; Geiger, Karin; Pleschberger, Sabine; Bleidorn, Jutta; Schneider, Nils; Müller-Mundt, Gabriele
- Abstract
Background: Frail older people are becoming an increasingly more important target group in healthcare provision. Little is known about patients' views on frailty and its various impacts, especially towards the end of life. This study was carried out to analyze the needs of frail elderly people at the end of life. Method: A qualitative, longitudinal case study design was applied and included 31 frail older patients (≥ 70 year) with a Canadian study of health and aging (CSHA) clinical frailty scale (CFS) grade 6/7 from urban and rural areas within the region of Lower Saxony. The analysis was based on guided interviews and followed the principles of grounded theory. Results: From the patients' perspective frailty is perceived as a process of increasing complexity of health problems, increased vulnerability and reduced ability to perform tasks. Frailty is experienced as various deficits including the physical, psychological, social and existential dimensions. Living and dying in a familiar environment and maintaining autonomy was identified as a core category. Key determinants were access to and quality of healthcare services as well as various individual and social resources. Conclusion: A palliative biopsychosocial care approach should be established early in the process of frailty, including advance care planning in order to meet the patients' needs of staying in a familiar environment. General practitioners as well as home care nursing personnel have to collaborate in order to balance issues of autonomy with increased care needs and the support of informal carers as key partners towards the end of life.
- Publication
Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie, 2017, Vol 50, Issue 2, p151
- ISSN
0948-6704
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00391-015-1011-z