Frailty among older adults in the community: insight in the complexity of frailty

The thesis is divided into three parts. Part 1 focuses on the measurement of frailty and the factors that contribute to it. The main outcome is the development of a questionnaire to measure frailty, including physical, psychological, social and environmental domains, which is suitable for a Chinese context. The Frailty Index (FI-35) is a self-reported screening instrument to measure frailty in the elderly and consists of 35 items in four domains: physical, psychological, social and environmental, and 11 subdomains. The FI-35 score ranges from zero to one, with a score closer to one indicating a person being more frail. In part 2 of the thesis, it is established that it is important not only to look at the total score of frailty, but also to look at the different items of frailty and how they increase with increasing frailty in order to provide tailored care. Finally, part 3 examines whether a dance intervention can improve the frailty of older people. For this purpose, a randomized controlled experimental study was conducted in a local community in Hebei, China. The project illustrated that dance was a feasible and effective intervention to improve the frailty status of older people in communities.