Impact of Social Frailty on Relocation of Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between frailty and variables such as housing are the least included in models of frailty and research on frailty or social frailty and relocation is negligible. The decision to relocate is complex and demanding for older adults with a loss of independence but little is known about what makes older adults relocate to congregated housing designated for older adults, let alone in combination with social frailty, and how they navigate this transition. OBJECTIVES: This mixed method descriptive study aims to understand the influence of social frailty for a population of French-speaking semi-independent older adults relocating to a housing continuum community. DESIGN: Semi-structured individual interviews including sociodemographic data and the PRISMA-7 Frailty Scale were conducted with recently relocated older adults. SETTING: A newly opened French-speaking housing continuum community in Eastern Canada that offers luxury apartments for independent older adults, two assisted living facilities for semi-independent older adults along with a long-term care facility. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-nine older adults with a mean age of 85 years, mostly female, married or widowed and highly educated. MEASUREMENTS: Content analysis of the transcribed recorded interviews and descriptive statistical analyses to examine relationships between the frailty PRISMA-7 scale, answers to additional questions and the sociodemographic data. RESULTS: There was not a significant difference in the scores for socialization before and after relocation nor between prior help and current help; however, there was a significant negative correlation between help and socialization before and after relocation. Three main themes included: imposed influences, push and pull factors and post relocation. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that several social factors contributed to relocation and that participants were experiencing social frailty. Participants were at the crossover point of being vulnerable to experiencing additional deficits which would potentially have led to higher frailty had they not relocated.