Assumptions about Frailty and the Tenacity of Ageism among Care Professionals.

Health, mental health, and pastoral care professionals encourage individuals to care for themselves in order to age successfully. Younger persons who live with long-term physical or mental health challenges are perceived as disabled or health-challenged. When older persons possess long-term physical or psychiatric challenges the older individual is perceived as frail or with deficits. Implications for clinical and pastoral care are considered as a result of perceptions of frailty in an ageist culture.