Case management for community-dwelling seniors living with frailty: perspectives of case managers

Abstract

Frailty is a growing health concern in Canada’s aging population. Community-dwelling seniors living with frailty are at an increased risk of adverse health and wellness outcomes. Case management has emerged as a promising approach to mitigate the burden of frailty. Case managers are responsible for the delivery of case management to community-dwelling seniors living with frailty. This phenomenological study explored case managers’ experiences delivering case management to this population. The Senior Friendly Care Framework guided the core components of this study including the data collection, analysis, and discussion. Interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data resulted in the identification of 13 themes that affect case management. These results provide insight into the current barriers and facilitators of case management practices for community-dwelling seniors living with frailty. The implications of this study’s results provide further evidence that can influence future practice, education, research and policy of case management for community-dwelling seniors living with frailty.