Benefits of an educational intervention on functional capacity in community-dwelling older adults with frailty phenotype: A randomized controlled trial

Background

There is an urgent demand for nurses to expand their knowledge and skills in managing frailty in primary care. Frailty is a multifaceted condition that is prevalent among older adults and often leads to reduced functional capacity. Currently, there is a limited understanding of the effectiveness of educational interventions aimed at improving functional capacity among community-dwelling frail older adults in a primary care setting.

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an educational program on functional capacity among pre-frail and frail older adults living in the community.

Design

A 12-month, multicenter, randomized controlled trial.

Settings

The FRAGSALUD study was conducted across 14 healthcare centers situated within the regions of Cadiz and Malaga, Spain.

Participants

A total of 199 frail/pre-frail community-dwelling older adults (74.2 ± 6.4 years).

Methods

Participants who met at least one Fried's criteria were assigned to either the control group (n = 90), which received usual healthcare assistance, or the intervention group (n = 109). The 6-month intervention comprised four group sessions and six telephone calls conducted by professional nurses, sport scientists, and nutritionists. This educational program focused on guidelines for physical activity, nutritional habits, cognition, and psychosocial well-being. Functional capacity was assessed using questionnaires for basic (Barthel Index) and instrumental (Lawton and Brody Scale) activities of daily living. All outcome measures were evaluated at baseline, immediately after the intervention (6-month), and six months after the intervention as a follow-up (12-month). Differences in functional capacity (Barthel Index and Lawton and Brody Scale scores) across the three time points were analyzed using Friedman's ANOVA, with Wilcoxon signed-rank test for pairwise comparisons.

Results

At both 6-month and 12-month assessments, the control group showed a statistically significant decline in basic and instrumental activities of daily living compared to the intervention group, which maintained similar levels, preventing this age-related decline.

Conclusions

The educational intervention, designed for easy implementation within healthcare systems, especially for nurses, successfully maintained levels of functional capacity in basic and instrumental activities of daily living, while the control group experienced a decline in functional capacity during the 12-month follow-up. Thus, educational interventions are encouraged for preserving the functional independence of frail/pre-frail older adults living in the community.

Registration

This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT05610605) and the first participant was registered in March 2022.

Tweetable abstract: The FRAGSALUD educational intervention prevents the age-related decline in functional independence over 12 months in frail older adults.