Frailty family, and church support among urban African American elderly

A community-based survey of 507 African Americans aged 60 and older from So uth Central Los Angeles was conducted to estimate the prevalence of frailty and describe the correlation between frailty, social support from family a nd church, and use of community services.:Persons were considered frail if they met criteria for any of four conditions:functional impairment, depress ion, urinary incontinence, falls. Sixty-seven percent met criteria for frai lty. Analyses revealed that frail elderly were significantly less likely to report feeling very close to family Family contact, feeling that church wa s important, and receiving church support were similar for the frail and no nfrail. Frail elderly were more likely to use community services. These fin dings suggest that frail elderly in this population may not receive more su pport from family and church than nonfrail elderly. There is a need for cau tion when assuming families and churches in urban African American communit ies are able to support the most vulnerable elderly.