Volume 30, Issue 169, March 2026

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of frailty management among clinical nurses in Saudi Arabia: A crosssectional study

Meshari Awwadh Alharthi, Aziz Hamad Alhazli^♦, Salah Salem Alsaedi, Hassan Mohammed Alharthi, Saleem Zaidan Alharbi, Sultan Yahya Mobarki

King Abdulaziz University faculty of nursing, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Aziz Hamad Alhazli, King Abdulaziz University faculty of nursing, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Frailty is becoming a bigger problem for public health because it causes disabilities, falls, longer hospital stays, and higher medical costs. Because nurses are always with their patients, they can spot early signs of frailty and give them the right care. Aim: This study evaluated clinical nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) concerning frailty management, and investigated the factors affecting these components and their interrelationships. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed involving 353 clinical nurses in a hospital in Saudi Arabia. Data were gathered using a self-administered, validated computerized questionnaire that addressed patient demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding frailty care. We used IBM SPSS Statistics to do descriptive statistics, Spearman correlations, and multiple linear regression to find out what factors affect KAP scores. Results: Nurses had a basic understanding of how to manage frailty (88.4%), but their attitudes (72.5%) and practices (58.4%) were not good enough, with an overall KAP score of 76.8%. Practice exhibited a weak correlation with knowledge (r = 0.148, p = 0.005) and a strong correlation with attitude (r = 0.224, p < 0.001), whereas knowledge and attitude showed no significant relationship (p = 0.094). Gender, age, geriatric nursing experience, and department significantly affected KAP scores (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Saudi clinical nurses have a good understanding of frailty, but their attitudes and practices are not up to par. To improve care for frail elderly patients, organizations need to support nurses, set up standardized screening, and create structured educational programs to help nurses improve their skills.

Keywords: Frailty, nurses, knowledge, attitude, practice, frailty management, crosssectional study, Saudi Arabia

Medical Science, 2026, 30, e62ms3848

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v30i169.e62ms3848

Published: 30 March 2026