City Research Online

Abstract

Background: Many older people experience Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), which may compromise the effectiveness of health promotion programmes.

Objectives: We explored engagement with behaviour change among participants scoring 18-25 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment receiving HomeHealth, a health promotion intervention supporting older adults with mild frailty to maintain independence in England ().

Methods: Of the 46 semistructured process evaluation interviews, 29 participants scored in the MCI range, purposively selected for demographic characteristics and degrees of cognitive impairment and the seven support workers.

Results: Thematic analysis resulted in three themes: Navigating the impact of MCI; Addressing memory as a goal in the intervention; and Adapting Behaviour Change Interventions for MCI. Participants had varied opinions about whether their memory was problematic and whether anything could be done to help. Many reported not discussing memory concerns with support workers. Barriers to engagement in behaviour change included limited social support and not acknowledging memory problems. Facilitators included setting goals which increased or were linked to existing health behaviours, using reminders/prompts and actively involving family members.

Conclusions: Implementing these facilitators into existing and new health promotion interventions delivered to older adults, with suspected but unacknowledged MCI, could overcome the current barriers people with MCI face when trying to engage and benefit from interventions.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Authors, 2026. Published by BMJ Open. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons: Attribution International Public License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Departments:	School of Health & Medical Sciences School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Nursing & Midwifery
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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