Skip to main content

COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1445347
This article is part of the Research Topic Aging and Frailty: From Causes to Prevention View all 5 articles

Case Study: Lessons learned from a community-based early frailty intervention programme in Singapore

Provisionally accepted
Kamala Priya Jayaprakash Kamala Priya Jayaprakash 1*Rachel Ngo Rachel Ngo 2Elianna Lee Elianna Lee 2Pey Ling Chng Pey Ling Chng 3Hengky Lee Hengky Lee 3Salan Chua Salan Chua 3Deborah Lee Deborah Lee 3Carina Wong Carina Wong 3Viknessh S Viknessh S 3
  • 1 MOH Holdings (Singapore), Singapore, Singapore
  • 2 Health Promotion Board, Singapore, Singapore
  • 3 Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Frailty is a dynamic and evolving state of health which involves the gradual loss of physiological in-built reserves. In Singapore, there is growing interest in delivering frailty intervention programmes at scale in the community to meet the demands of an ageing population. New methods of programme delivery such as community-led models that do not rely on healthcare professional manpower are critical to address this unmet need. In this paper, we describe our experience and some lessons learned from the implementation of a communitybased early frailty intervention programme for older adults, delivered for the first time by trained laypersons.From August to September 2022, 'Steady Lah', a community-based early frailty intervention programme with physical activity and nutrition-based elements, was conducted at an Active Ageing Centre in Singapore. A total of 23 participants with mean age of 73.8 years were enrolled in the 12-session programme comprising of progressive strength and balance-based exercises and workshop-based learning focusing on nutrition.In the implementation of this run of 'Steady Lah', modifications were made from a healthcare professional-led model to a trained layperson-led model with additional steps taken to ensure participant safety and assess overall effectiveness when delivered by trained laypersons. Good collaboration between stakeholders in healthcare institutions and the community is necessary to co-develop a model that prioritises the needs of the frail older adults.

    Keywords: Frailty, older adults, Early Frailty Intervention, Community-based programmes, Strength and balance

    Received: 07 Jun 2024; Accepted: 10 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jayaprakash, Ngo, Lee, Chng, Lee, Chua, Lee, Wong and S. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Kamala Priya Jayaprakash, MOH Holdings (Singapore), Singapore, Singapore

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.