Making the Invisible Visible: Exploring the Experiences of Frail Homebound and Bedridden People

This is our preliminary community research report concerning a co-design and co-research investigation of the social and health exclusion factors and lived experiences of Frail and Homebound and Bedbound People (FHBP) in Australia.

This research, and its implementation, respond to health consumers’ calls concerning the Medical Access Issues for Homebound/Bedridden Persons, written by Ricky Buchanan: https://notdoneliving.net/justinvisible/ Her work outlined the lack of access to health services, which seems to be creating disparities, social exclusion, and marginalisation for this population.

To further explore Ricky Buchanan’s findings and concerns, Dr Maria Alejandra Pinero de Plaza and Penelope McMillan, together with several Australian health consumers and academics, co-created a survey to explore the characteristics and experiences of Frail, Homebound and Bedbound Australians, from July to September 2020.

The survey obtained ethical approval from the Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee (Project No. 8557). This report introduces a preliminary analysis of most of the survey data, to inform the community. It also contains non-identifiable pictures of the surveyed FHBP holding or touching important elements within their life and experiences.

The survey questions and responses are explained in text detailing, when possible, the three largest types of answers for each question. Tables with all response types, counts and percentages are provided for each question, as not everybody surveyed responded to all questions. Graphics that support the written analysis are provided. The graphics present all responses in percentages from the largest to the smallest groups considering all types of responses received.