January 2012 – June 2013

Partners in the project

Following the cycle of international seminars organised by MADoPA between November 2010 and June 2011 on the definition, measurement and prevention of frailty in the elderly, EDF, one of MADoPA’s current and founding members, asked the organisation to carry out a study on frailty and energy poverty.

Aim of the study: an observational study to provide
insights for a detection and intervention strategy

From the perspective of detecting and intervening to help individuals in situations of energy poverty, this study sought to establish whether people in energy poverty are frailer than those who are not in energy poverty. It was conducted from January 2012 to June 2013, and focused on analysing the correlation between “energy poverty” and “frailty of the older individual”. The study also helped to clarify the notion of energy poverty: is energy poverty a specific issue, connected in this instance to the frailty progression process in older people, or is it simply one of the components of poverty?
In practical terms, this observational study was conducted among two groups of older people, one in energy poverty and the other not in energy poverty, to enable a comparison of levels of frailty between the two groups. This work enabled us to see to what extent people in energy poverty are non-frail, pre-frail or frail and to compare their frailty scores with those of older people not in energy poverty.

MADoPA’s role: networking

MADoPA used the help of its members and network of partners to carry out this study. It asked Reims Teaching Hospital for help producing the study protocol and analysing the findings. When putting together the two groups of elderly people, it called on two of its members, the Mutualité Champagne Ardenne and the Champagne Ardenne REGECA geriatric network, to help identify partners who would be able to form the groups. The two partners identified turned out to be the Maison de l’Enfance de Reims and AG2R la Mondiale Champagne Ardenne, the latter of which signed up to become a member of MADoPA following this study.