Being Your Best: an innovative, co-designed approach to frailty and care transitions from hospital to home in people aged 65 years or more

Frailty is a condition in which the individual is vulnerable and at increased risk of poor health outcomes or death in the event of an illness or injury. As we age, frailty is common, affecting one in two people aged 65 years or more, and is linked with high health care needs. Frailty is modifiable, with interventions such as physical activity, cognitive training, nutrition and social support having been shown to improve frailty in older adults. To address frailty in older community-welling adults, we propose to codesign and undertake a feasibility and acceptability pilot of the Be Your Best program. The Be Your Best program aims to build resilience in older adults to overcome the vulnerabilities that arise from frailty and will be undertaken in two phases. Phase 1: Codesign of the ‘Be Your Best’ Program During Phase 1 of this project we gathered information from the Bolton Clarke Consumer Partnership Group, Bolton Clarke At Home Support Clients, the Cabrini Health Patient Advisory Committee, Alfred Health Patient Advisory Committee and Monash Health Patient Advisory Committee about frailty and the language surrounding frailty, the dimensions of frailty important to them, and how they could be addressed appropriately and effectively in the community. These groups co-designed the interventions for the Being Your Best program; comprising Moving Well, Eating Well, Thinking Well, and Connecting Well. Phase 2: Piloting ‘Be Your Best’ ‘Be Your Best’ Phase 2 involves using the proposed interventions from the co-design sessions to undertake a feasibility and sustainability pilot program. This pilot will demonstrate the feasibility and sustainability of the ‘Be Your Best’ program at 6-months and 12-months, respectively, for Bolton Clarke clients receiving At-Home Support services; as well as patients admitted to Emergency Departments in three tertiary acute metropolitan Melbourne Hospitals.