The Impact of Frailty Intervention for Community-Dwelling Older Adults on Physical and Mental Health from the Perspective of the HAPA Theory

Objective: To investigate the effects of a dynamic intervention model for frailty in community-dwelling older adults-developed based on the Health Action Process Approach theory-on their physical and mental health. Methods: A total of 160 frail older adults screened from six communities in Xi’an were selected as study subjects and randomly divided into a control group and an intervention group, each comprising 80 participants. The control group received traditional health management methods, while the intervention group received the dynamic intervention model for frailty in community-dwelling older adults developed in this study. The two groups were compared in terms of demographic characteristics, the Mini-Nutrition Status Scale, biochemical indicators, the Brief Geriatric Depression Scale, the Chinese version of the Barthel Index, and the European Five-Dimensional Health Scale scores. Results: In the comparison of baseline data between the two groups, there were no statistically significant differences in demographic characteristics, health status, nutrition, self-care ability, depression status, or the incidence of adverse events (P > 0.05); Following the intervention, the intervention group demonstrated significantly better scores than the control group at 6 and 12 months in terms of nutrition, self-care ability, depression, and quality of life (P < 0.05); The research results of biochemical indicators such as HCG, IGF-1, HB and 25-(OH)2D3 in the elderly showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the biochemical indicators between the intervention group and the control group in the two follow-ups (P＞0.05). Conclusion: The dynamic frailty intervention model for community-dwelling older adults, developed based on the HAPA theory, can significantly improve their nutritional status, self-care ability, depressive symptoms, and quality of life, thereby promoting their physical and mental health.