DOI: 10.12688/hrbopenres.14418.1 ISSN: 2515-4826

Co-Designing a Transitional Nutrition Care Pathway for Older Adults Living with Malnutrition and Frailty Following Hospital Discharge

Cerenay Sarier, Siobhan Walsh, Sheila Bowers, Heather Keller, Katherine Ford, Aoife Niland, Rose Galvin, Anne Griffin
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Background Older adults living with frailty who are recently discharged from acute care settings are at increased risk of malnutrition and associated complications, including functional decline, hospital readmission, and reduced quality of life. Strengthening transitional nutrition care pathways is therefore important to ensure nutrition support is timely, coordinated, and responsive to patients’ needs. Incorporating the perspectives of older adults living with malnutrition and frailty, family members, and clinicians can help develop practical, effective, and sustainable care pathways and interventions. Objective To engage in a co-design process to identify the key components of an evidence-based and stakeholder-informed nutrition care pathway to support older adults living with frailty during the transition from hospital to home. Materials and Methods This study will use a longitudinal participatory co-design approach. Approximately 30 participants, including older adults, family carers, and hospital and community healthcare professionals, and representatives from voluntary and community services will take part in two co-design workshops facilitated by the primary researcher and research team. Workshops will be facilitating collaborative discussion and idea generation. Workshops will involve sharing experiences, identifying challenges, co-creating solutions, and refining a draft care pathway using interactive activities such as pathway mapping, visual prompts, and prioritisation exercises followed by structured consensus-building using the Nominal Group Technique to prioritise components of the nutritional care pathway. Data will be collected through field notes, audio recordings, and participant-generated materials, and analysed using an access to healthcare framework to identify key components and achieve consensus on the final model. Conclusion The co-design process is expected to identify key components of a stakeholder-informed nutritional care pathway to improve continuity of care, service integration, and tailored post-discharge nutrition support for older adults living with frailty and malnutrition.

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