Authors (including presenting author) :
Chu KY(1), Ng TY(2)
Affiliation :
(1)Occupational Therapy Department, TWGHs Wong Tai Sin Hospital
Introduction :
Fall in elderlies is one of the major causes of morbidity, loss of functional independence, and hospitalization in Hong Kong. Recent studies revealed that among community-dwelling elderlies, 60% of fall accidents occur in the course of activities of daily living (ADLs). It has been evidenced that Occupational Therapy (OT) has an outstanding role in addressing fall risks by optimizing performance patterns associated with ADLs and minimizing environment-related hazards. Apart from the aforementioned interventions, OTs may use education to reinforce fall threat knowledge and hence foster patients' behavioral change and improve their fear of falls. Therefore, an educational fall prevention program was proposed, targeting geriatric patients in the in-patient phase.
Objectives :
To evaluate the effectiveness of the fall prevention program on geriatric patients' fall-related knowledge and level of fall efficacy.
Methodology :
This study used a pre and post-test quasi-experimental design. Eligible participants were recruited to a fall prevention group and all of them underwent pre and post-test measures which included 1) Questionnaire which covers general knowledge of fall threats, common environmental hazards and usage of assistive aids 2) FES-ICON which was used to assess patients' fall efficacy. Followed by the assessments, a survey regarding participants' satisfaction level towards the educational group was adopted. Eventually, three months post-discharge follow-up was conducted via telecommunication to evaluate participants' fall rate after discharge.
Result & Outcome :
Data was collected from November 2021 to June 2022, lasting for eight months. A total number of 39 subjects with mean age of 77.92 (ranging from 68 to 95) were recruited. By comparing pre-post intervention outcomes using paired t-test, participants showed significant improvement in fall preventive knowledge (p< 0.01) and significant reduction in FES-ICON score (p< 0.01). A good patient satisfaction rate (93.2%) was recorded. 3 patients (out of 39) reported the occurrence of a fall accident within three months after discharge.
The results supported that the proposed fall prevention program is an effective clinical intervention in delivering fall-related knowledge to geriatric patients and reducing their fear of falls. Alongside traditional interventions such as home environment modification and ADL training, OTs could utilize education as a holistic approach to address the problem of falls in older people. Further research may explore the feasibility of enhancing the program via mobile technologies (E.G HAGO) and incorporate the use of functional exercise in the program.
