The Research On Fear Of Falling Of The Elderly And Impact Factors In The Elderly Apartments

ObjectiveTo describe the current situation of the elderly's fear of falling (FOF) in elderly apartments in Shen Yang; To measure the extent of fear of falling; To analyze impact factors of fear of falling in elderly apartments; To give sugesstions about management policies and to help caregivers select appropriate care approaches; To propose constructive ideas to improve the quality of life of the elderly.MethodsBased on the Modified Falls Efficacy Scale developed by Keith Hill, the questionnaire was formed through Chinese and English translation; Apply the general condition questionnaire and impact factors of fear of falling questionnaire to investigate the elderly who should meet the following specific inclusion criteria: being over 60 years of age, be able to read written sentences, being no cognitive impairment, having mobile ability with or without assistant devices, have been injured and should not walk within one year, be informed consent. They were asked to answer the questions through the "one-to-one, face-to-face" interview by researcher from September to November in 2008. 179 valid questionnaires were codified and analyzed by the statistical software of SPSS13.0 to describe the present condition of characteristics and fear of falling status. Apply analysis of variance or t test to find the different variables. Apply the multi-line stepwise regression method to analyze the impact factors of fear of falling of the elderly, finally identify the extent of influential factor.ResultsThe score of the Modified Falls Efficacy Scale of 179 elderly in apartments is 8.23±2.099, the lowest score is 0.36, the highest score is 10.00. In population characteristics, there are significant differences in terms of age, body mass index (BMI)and pre-retirement career. In Univariate analysis of the impact factors, there are significant differences in terms of disease, medication, picking things, appetite, exercise, physical condition, health self-assessment, activity level, legs cramps, vision, reaction ability, gait, restless, difficult to do new things, take part in collective activities, fall experience, use of assistant devices, night lighting, fall guidance, handrails enough; In mutiple analysis of the impact factors, there are significant differences in terms of activity level, physical condition, use of assistant devices, fall experience, reaction ability, exercise, vision, fall guidance, reach things. The coefficient of determination is 0.686, which shows that dependent variable should be explained by independent variable accounted for 68.6%, other factors and accidental factors accounted for 31.4%.ConclusionThe average score of the Modified Falls Efficacy Scale of 179 elderly in apartments is 8.23, which is more lower compared to the average score 9.8 of foreign healthy women. The daily activity needs to be further improved. The status of fear of falling in elderly apartments needs to be made better. The multi-line stepwise regression method identifies the most influential factor which is using of assistant devices. Caregivers in elderly apartments should utilize the information source of the survey to achieve healthy aging, combined with the actual situation of the elderly to improve the method of the care.