Objective:
Psychological frailty, including cognitive, mood, and motivational components, is an important predictor of overall well-being. Therefore, there is an increasing scientific interest in studying different determinants of psychological frailty. Unfortunately, the psychological components of frailty are not fully evaluated and currently, there is currently no consensus on the proper assessment or intervention. This study evaluated optimism and self-efficacy among frail older men without functional disability.
Materials and Methods:
A case-control study. Seventy older men ≥60 years were divided into frail and non-frail groups. The self-efficacy scale (SES) and revised life orientation test (R-LOT) were applied for all participants, in addition to the comprehensive geriatric assessment, to determine other factors affecting physical frailty.
Results:
Those with physical frailty had lower self-efficacy and optimism scores. R-LOT and SES had moderate diagnostic accuracy in predicting frailty; the area under the curve for both tools were 0.75 and 0.71, respectively.
Conclusion:
There is an association between poor general self-efficacy, low optimism, and frailty among older men. Thus, the importance of addressing the psychological determinants of frailty is on par with that of addressing the physical components. Integrating the SES and R-LOT scales into the comprehensive assessment of older men with physical frailty can improve the assessment of psychological resilience, ultimately promoting their well-being and quality of life.
Keywords: Frailty, optimism, revised life orientation test, self-efficacy, self-efficacy scale