Assessing Frailty in Older Adults With Functional Mental Illness

Developing a Tool to Assess Frailty in Older Adults With a Diagnosis of Functional Mental Illness; Tool Development and Pilot Testing.

The purpose of this study is the development of, and two stages of pilot testing of, a tool designed to assess frailty in older adults with a diagnosis of a functional mental illness. During the tool's development stage, participants' input, ideas and feedback will be sought to inform the tool's design. In the first pilot test the comprehensibility, acceptability and feasibility of the tool will be established. The tool will be amended based on information gained in the first pilot test. In the second pilot test the comprehensibility, acceptability and feasibility of the revised tool will be established. Reliability of the tool will be explored and preliminary examinations of both the interpretability and construct validity of the tool will be completed.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged ≥65 years
• Diagnosis of one of the following functional mental illnesses; depression, anxiety, bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia.
• Currently in receipt of mental health services under The Care Programme Approach (CPA).
• Presence of ≥2 of the following frailty indicators: Aged ≥75 years old, prescribed ≥5 medications, a history of ≥1 fall/s in the 6-month period prior to assessment, admission to hospital in the 6-month period prior to assessment. In receipt of weekly support for Activities of Daily Living (ADL) tasks, In receipt of daily support for Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) tasks, ≥2 chronic physical health conditions.
• Fluent in English language.
• Able to provide informed consent to engage in the study.
• Able to tolerate the mental and physical demands of the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• A diagnosis of a neurodegenerative condition (e.g. mild cognitive impairment or dementia), neurological condition (e.g. stroke, Parkinson's disease) or head injury (where a loss of consciousness greater than 10 minutes is reported/recorded).
• The presence of a severe sensory impairment (e.g. registered blind or deaf).
• Presence of a developmental intellectual disability.
• Current alcohol/substance abuse or dependence.