Can navigators and coaches help older people join community activities?

Frailty is a multidimensional syndrome in which a person accumulates age-related deficits across life domains, increasingly including social components such as social isolation. An estimated 12% of the Swiss population aged 65+ is frail and a further 46% pre-frail; without prevention, about two thirds of pre-frail persons will become frail, with major consequences for disability, hospitalisation, mortality, quality of life and health costs. Meta-analyses identify physical activity as the most promising prevention strategy, yet structured mechanisms connecting older adults with existing community activities remain underdeveloped and fragmented. To close this implementation gap, the ENGAGE implementation project co-designed a community participation support pathway with local stakeholders: older adults with low physical and/or social activity are systematically identified during routine contacts, a values-based conversation clarifies what matters to the person, the person is matched and referred to existing community activities, and a navigator (a social work professional acting as link worker) provides behavioural, practical and emotional support for initial and continued participation. Because there are uncertainties in the delivery of the study and intervention, a pilot study with a pragmatic randomised trial design is implemented.