Exploring experiences of frailty in older adults who have fallen
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Feelings about frailty: A hermeneutic phenomenological study of the experiences of older people who have fallen and contacted Emergency Ambulance Services.
IRAS ID
170424
Contact name
Duncan Robertson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 11 days
Research summary
The principal research question is intended to explore the lived experience of people who have fallen, and needed 999 Ambulance Services, in order to gain an insight to their personal views of frailty.
The study design follows a qualitative methodology which means that the thoughts and feelings of the participants are central to the data. Analysis of the interviews will allow an interpretation of the essence of frailty in the sample to be developed based on any common meanings arising from the structured discussions. The researcher considers the participants as experts due to their insight of the experience of falling.
Data will be collected by a single in-depth semi-structured interview designed to capture data relating to specific areas including: a general overview of the fall, adaptations made as a result of the fall, how the future looks, inward and outward projections and notions of frailty and the positives that have come from falling.
Up to ten individuals will be interviewed. Typically they will be over the age of sixty-five, have fallen and contacted Emergency Ambulance services in the months of January, February and March 2015. The sample is designed to capture in depth data associated with a significant event rather than producing generalizable results that can be applied across populations. It is anticipated that as many as forty potential participants will be identified to allow for non-participation or withdrawal from the study.
Each potential participant will be identified through a search of a database for falls team referrals made for Greater Manchester patients. Identification and verification of personal details will follow North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust R&D Lead guidance via database searches within the Trust.REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NW/0313
Date of REC Opinion
28 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion