Exercise programmes for people with COPD and frailty
3rd June 2020
People living with both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and frailty have high potential to benefit from exercise-based interventions, including pulmonary rehabilitation, but face challenges completing them. Research to understand ways to optimise exercise-based interventions in this group is lacking. Researchers based at the Cicely Saunders Institute aimed to understand how exercise-based interventions might improve outcomes for people living with both COPD and frailty.
People with COPD and frailty may hold negative beliefs about themselves and exercise-based interventions, particularly when they have frequent and unpredictable disruptions in their health. The team conducted a realist review, in collaboration with key stakeholders, to understand how people with COPD and frailty can get the most from exercise-based interventions.
The review identified that it was important to establish trusting relationships and create a shared understanding of physical, psycho-social and emotional needs to provide individualised exercises that are delivered flexibly.
Read the paper in full here:
Brighton LJ, Evans CJ, Man WDC, Maddocks M (2020) Improving exercise-based interventions for people living with both COPD and frailty: a realist review. International Journal of COPD, 15: 841-855.