Co-developing community rehabilitation services to promote functional ability and quality of life of older people: a mixed methods study in Zimbabwe. (360G-Wellcome-317528_Z_24_Z)

Populations living in Africa are ageing, yet health services are often challenged to provide appropriate care. Physiotherapists support older people to maintain healthy and independent lives; interventions include exercise, fall risk mitigation, muscle strengthening and balance, and Assistive Device (AD) prescription. ADs support functional ability, autonomy and/or independence, e.g. mobility aids/home adaptations. The WHO state rehabilitation and AD access are instrumental for healthy ageing. Like many African countries, Zimbabwe has few Physiotherapists and limited AD access. New innovative, scalable solutions are needed to meet demand. I will develop a new community-based peer-to-peer model of care to support healthy ageing for older people. I will achieve this through mixed methodology approaches: 1) qualitative methods to understand older adults’ health/mobility experiences and priorities, 2) quantifying current access to AD with the rapid Assessment of Assistive Technology (rATA) survey, 3) co-developing, implementing, and evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, cost and effectiveness of Community Healthy Ageing Peer Support Groups (CHAPS Groups) to enable older people to maintain physical activity. I will achieve this through co-design workshops and process evaluation. If successful, this innovative solution is potentially scalable within and beyond Zimbabwe, through the new Healthy Ageing programme recently launched in Zimbabwe.