Experiences of a remote, person-centred intervention in older persons living with frailty - a qualitative study

TL;DR

This study explores how older people with frailty experience a remote care program combining phone calls and a digital platform.

Contribution

The study provides insights into the effectiveness of remote, person-centred care for older adults with frailty.

Findings

Participants felt secure due to empathetic phone conversations.

Many found the digital platform complex to use.

Remote care improved resource availability and feelings of security.

Abstract

Globally, healthcare systems are challenged with implementing effective home-based self-management programmes for older persons living with frailty within a proactive, integrated model of remote, person-centred care (PCC).

This study explores the experiences of a remote PCC intervention in older persons living with frailty.

A qualitative inductive conventional content analysis was conducted using semi-structured telephone interviews. The intervention involved older adults who received PCC through a combined approach of telephone calls and a digital platform. Fourteen community-dwelling older people (≥ 75 years, screened as frail) with recent emergency care visits but had not been hospitalised, were included.

Participants felt secure due to the engaging, empathetic and professional-friendly nature of the telephone conversations. In contrast, many informants reported difficulty using the digital platform due to its complexity.

Telephone-based, person-centred remote care enhanced resource availability and promoted feelings of security among older persons living with frailty. However, further development of user-friendly digital tools for older people is still needed.

ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT04416815. Registered 07/06/2021.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-025-06509-0.