Factors associated with quality of life in nursing home residents with frailty

Abstract

Aims: The study aimed to examine the prevalence of frailty in nursing home residents and the extent to which personal characteristics and health functioning interactively affects the quality of life (QoL) of nursing home residents with frailty.

Method: This was a cross-sectional survey. Ninety-one nursing home residents who achieved a Rockwood’s frailty index score of 1 or above and a Mini Mental State Examination score of 12 or above from two Hong Kong nursing homes participated in this study. The Chinese version of World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF was used to measure QoL.

Results: The prevalence of frailty in these two nursing homes studied was 31.6%. Four significant factors – pain, sleep quality, performance in activities of daily living (ADL) and fall risk – were identified from four multivariate regression models. Pain and sleep quality were predictive of overall QoL, and these two factors together with performance in ADL determined physical QoL. Painand performance in ADL had an effect on psychological QoL, while fall riskaffected the environmental domain of QoL.

Conclusion: This is the first study to report prevalence of frailty in Chinese older people receiving long-term residential care in Hong Kong. It serves as the ground work to enable nurses to develop nursing strategies to address significant factors to improve the QoL of nursing home residents with frailty.