JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Functional decline is a common problem in old age. This decline is often observed across various domains, including physical, cognitive, psychological, social, and behavioral functioning. A decline in or loss of any of these functions can affect the overall well-being of older adults. Assessing functional status has been shown to be crucial in identifying older adults at risk for functional impairment and determining the factors contributing to these impairments. However, a deeper understanding is still needed of the complex inter-relationships between specific factors within and across various health domains affecting functional status.

Objective:

The aim of this study is to examine these factors and the relationship between them with regard to functional status. Additionally, the study delves into the feasibility of the functional status assessment from the perspective of home-living older adults and their informal caregivers.

Methods:

In this observational study, interprofessional teams of registered nurses, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists will conduct two functional status assessments covering physical, cognitive, psychological, social, and behavioral functioning domains. The study includes 40 home-living older adults aged 75 or over who have applied for municipal health and care services in Norway. A quantitative approach will be applied to examine the factors within and between different health domains that impact the functional status of home-living older adults. The relationships among these factors and their associations with functional status will also be investigated. In addition, we will assess whether changes are observed between t1 (the baseline assessment) and t2 (the assessment performed after 5 months). Following this, a qualitative approach will be employed to examine the perspectives of participants and their informal caregivers (comprising 10 to 15 participants) regarding the functional status assessment and its feasibility. The final sample size for the qualitative phase will be determined once data saturation is achieved. In terms of quantitative data, univariate analyses will be performed to examine each variable individually. Following this, preliminary multivariate analyses will be performed to explore potential correlations and interactions among variables and how these factors may impact the functional status. To examine the functional changes, we will use the two points of data (t1 and t2). For the qualitative analysis, we will apply thematic analysis.

Results:

The initial baseline assessments were completed in July 2023, and the second functional status assessment is ongoing. We anticipate that the results will be available for analysis in spring 2024.

Conclusions:

We aim to create an opportunity for interprofessional collaboration among healthcare professionals in the local municipality, improve their skills in conducting systematic functional status assessments, refine the measurement tool for data collection to ensure its accuracy and efficacy, and, most importantly, assess the acceptability and feasibility of the assessment procedure among the participants and their informal caregivers. Clinical Trial: Clinical.Trials.gov (NCT05837728)