Authors names

Catherine Senserrick, Kenneth Hartono

Affiliations

Eastern Health

Introduction

Frailty is defined as a “State of vulnerability due to a decline in reserve resulting in limited ability to cope with every day or acute stressors” (Xue et al 2011).

Older adults with mental illness have an increased prevalence of frailty compared to the general population, however frailty is rarely assessed in acute inpatient settings (Pearson et al 2022).

The physiotherapists wished to identify frail consumers on an older adult psychiatric ward.

Method

All consumers referred to physiotherapy were offered a frailty assessment. The modified Fried’s Phenotype Scale was utilised which measures unintentional weight loss, fatigue levels, handgrip strength, walking speed and self –reported physical activity levels. This has been validated in the community in this population (Bahat et al 2022).

Results & findings

During a 5 month period, 33 consumers out of a total of 58 (57%) were able to verbally consent and complete testing. 54 consumers were classified as frail or pre-frail on the scale (93%). Consumers who were referred to the appropriate allied health disciplines as an inpatient, and on discharge depending on their symptoms, to address their frailty.

Discussion

Frailty appears to be a significant issue in older adults with severe mental illness. This correlates with studies completed with this population in the community (Warren et al 2023). Importantly, frailty can be reversed with intervention in older adults (Cameron et al 2013).

The authors now plan to investigate if there is “hidden” frailty in consumers not referred to physiotherapy. This will be a joint project with the dietetics team. The research team have applied for ethics to investigate the prevalence of frailty, the feasibility of testing all consumers who consent and are able to complete the parameters, and the number/type of consequent referrals initiated after the testing.