A cross-cultural investigation of the conceptualisation of frailty in northern Tanzania

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11201307
AutoresEmma G Lewis (0000-0001-9909-2731, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, autor de correspondencia), Jane Rogathi (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre), John Kissima (0000-0002-8356-9862), Matthew Breckons (0000-0003-3057-6767, Newcastle University), Richard Lee (0000-0002-2196-4859, Northumbria University), Sarah Urasa (0000-0003-2590-7082, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre)
Año2023
Volumen43
Número1
Páginas127-160
Fecha de publicación2023-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAgeing and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0144-686X • E-ISSN: 1469-1779
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0144686x21000520
OpenAlexW3160178818
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas61

Frailty prevalence is higher in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with high-income countries when measured by biomedical frailty models, the most widely used being the frailty phenotype. Frailty in older people is becoming of global public health interest as a means of promoting health in old age in LMICs. As yet, little work has been done to establish to what extent the concept of frailty, as conceived according to ‘western’ biomedicine, has cross-cultural resonance for a low-income rural African setting. This study aimed to investigate the meaning of frailty contextually, using the biomedical concept of the frailty phenotype as a framework. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of older adults, their care-givers and community representatives in rural northern Tanzania. Thirty interview transcripts were transcribed, translated from Kiswahili to English and thematically analysed. Results reveal that despite superficial similarities in the understanding of frailty, to a great extent the physical changes highlighted by the frailty phenotype were naturalised, except when these were felt to be due to a scarcity of resources. Frailty was conceptualised as less of a physical problem of the individual, but rather, as a social problem of the community, suggesting that the frailty construct may be usefully applied cross-culturally when taking a social equity focus to the health of older people in LMICs

Biomedicine · Cross-cultural · Equity (law) · Focus group · Political science · Qualitative research · Scarcity · Social science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Tanzania · Frailty in Older Adults · Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life · Medicine · Nutrition and Health in Aging · Psychology · Gerontology