International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health

Prevention of recurrent falls in elderly: a pre-post intervention study in a rural community, Egypt

Background: Nursing intervention has been reported to prevent further falls in elderly with previous falls.

Population and Methods: This as pre/post intervention study involving a convenient sample of sixty three elderly of both sexes with previous falls. Seven sessions of multiple interventions were individually delivered to the elderly in their homes in a rural community. The intervention included knowledge about falls, instruction about environmental hazards and exercise training. Change in knowledge, activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs ), The Risk for Falls of Older Adult People Community Setting (FROP-Com), Berg balance scale (BBS) and environmental checklist were assessed at pre-and post-interventions.

Results: The median knowledge score increased significantly after intervention from 40 up to 133. Also the median total score of practicing exercise increased from 0 to 78. There are significant improvements in the score of all elements and the total score of environmental hazards in post 2 and 4 months. The percent of independent elderly as measured by ADLs and IADLs increased significantly at 2 months after intervention (3.2% vs. 14.3%; and 3.2% vs. 12.7%; respectively). The low risk of fall, as measured by BBS and FROP-Com score, showed significant increase at both 2 and 4 months post-intervention. Both the recurrence and effect of falls were significantly reduced during the follow-up period.

Conclusion: Despite the .small size of study population, the multiple interventions reduced both the recurrence and the sequel of falls.

Author(s): Abdel-Hady El-Gilany , El-sayed Hatata , Sahar M Soliman , Raefa Refaat

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