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Moving upstream in health promoting policies for older people with early frailty in England? A policy analysis.

ABSTRACT: Objectives Globally, populations are rapidly ageing and countries have developed health promotion and wellbeing strategies to address increasing demand for health care and old-age support. The older population is not homogeneous however, and includes a large group in transition between being active and healthy to being frail, i.e. with early frailty. This review explores the extent to which policy in England has addressed this group with a view to supporting independence and preventing further progression towards frailty. Methods A narrative review was conducted of 157 health and social care policy documents current in 2014-2017 at three levels of the health and social care system in England. Findings We report the policy problem analysis, the shifts over time in language from health promotion to illness prevention, the shift in target populations to mid-life and those most at risk of adverse outcomes through frailty, and changes to delivery mechanisms to incentivize attention to the frailest rather than those with early frailty. We found that older people in general were not identified as a specific population in many of these policies. While this may reflect a welcome lack of age discrimination, it could equally represent omission through ageism. Only at local level did we identify some limited attention to preventative actions with people with early frailty. Conclusion The lack of policy attention to older people with early frailty is a missed opportunity to address some of the demands on health and social care services. Addressing the individual and societal consequences of adverse experiences of those with the greatest frailty should not distract from a more distinct public health perspective which argues for a refocusing upstream to health promotion and illness prevention for those with early frailty.

SUBMITTER: Drennan V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6050943 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Policy Points This analysis finds that government obesity policies in England have largely been proposed in a way that does not readily lead to implementation; that governments rarely commission evaluations of previous government strategies or learn from policy failures; that governments have tended to adopt less interventionist policy approaches; and that policies largely make high demands on individual agency, meaning they rely on individuals to make behavior changes rather than shaping external influences and are thus less likely to be effective or equitable. These findings may help explain why after 30 years of proposed government obesity policies, obesity prevalence and health inequities still have not been successfully reduced. If policymakers address the issues identified in this analysis, population obesity could be tackled more successfully, which has added urgency given the COVID-19 pandemic.ContextIn England, the majority of adults, and more than a quarter of children aged 2 to 15 years live with obesity or excess weight. From 1992 to 2020, even though the government published 14 obesity strategies in England, the prevalence of obesity has not been reduced. We aimed to determine whether such government strategies and policies have been fit for purpose regarding their strategic focus, nature, basis in theory and evidence, and implementation viability.MethodWe undertook a mixed-methods study, involving a document review and analysis of government strategies either wholly or partially dedicated to tackling obesity in England. We developed a theory-based analytical framework, using content analysis and applied thematic analysis (ATA) to code all policies. Our interpretation drew on quantitative findings and thematic analysis.FindingsWe identified and analyzed 14 government strategies published from 1992 to 2020 containing 689 wide-ranging policies. Policies were largely proposed in a way that would be unlikely to lead to implementation; the majority were not interventionist and made high demands on individual agency, meaning that they relied on individuals to make behavior changes rather than shaping external influences, and are thus less likely to be effective or to reduce health inequalities.ConclusionsThe government obesity strategies' failure to reduce the prevalence of obesity in England for almost 30 years may be due to weaknesses in the policies' design, leading to a lack of effectiveness, but they may also be due to failures of implementation and evaluation. These failures appear to have led to insufficient or no policy learning and governments proposing similar or identical policies repeatedly over many years. Governments should learn from their earlier policy failures. They should prioritize policies that make minimal demands on individuals and have the potential for population-wide reach so as to maximize their potential for equitable impacts. Policies should be proposed in ways that readily lead to implementation and evaluation.

Project description:Frail and pre-frail older people often need to take medications. However, factors related to medication adherence among this population remain unclear, warranting further research. This study aims to identify correlates of medication adherence among frail and pre-frail older adults. From November 2020 to December 2020; a total of 4218 community-dwelling residents aged ≥ 60 years were interviewed by a cross-sectional survey in China. Data on subjects' general information; medication adherence; and frailty status was obtained via the face-to-face structured questionnaire. Logistic regression models were fitted; separately; to examine these factors linked to medication adherence. We found that 36.2% (n = 1527) and 18.8% (n = 792) of respondents were classified as pre-frail and frail. According to the Morisky scale scores, 66.74% (n = 2815) were found to have adequate medication adherence, and 33.26% (n = 1403) were found to have inadequate medication adherence. Among the pre-frail respondents, age (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.64; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18-2.29, P = 0.003), marital status (AOR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.04-2.21, P = 0.030), smoking status (AOR = 0.61; 95% CI: 0.37-0.99, P = 0.044), and functional ability (AOR = 0.72; 95% CI: 0.58-0.91, P = 0.006) were significantly related to medication adherence. Among them, advanced age and single were risk factors, which were positively related to the medication adherence of subjects in pre-frailty, while quitting smoking and limited functional ability contributed to improving their medication adherence. In contrast, only age (AOR = 1.77; 95% CI: 1.16-2.69, P = 0.008) was significantly associated with medication adherence among frail subjects. Influencing factors to medication adherence of old people in pre-frailty and frailty have been enriched, which provides a certain reference for promoting medication adherence in this population. Future adherence intervention methods should be designed based on these factors.

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Moving upstream in health promoting policies for older people with early frailty in England? A policy analysis.

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