Falls and Preventive Practices among Institutionalized Older People

Cristina Lavareda Baixinho, Carla Madeira, Silvia Alves, Maria Adriana Henriques and Maria dos Anjos Dixe
Additional contact information
Cristina Lavareda Baixinho: Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon (CIDNUR), 1900-160 Lisbon, Portugal
Carla Madeira: Vila Franca Hospital, 2600-009 Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal
Silvia Alves: Vila Franca Hospital, 2600-009 Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal
Maria Adriana Henriques: Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon (CIDNUR), 1900-160 Lisbon, Portugal
Maria dos Anjos Dixe: Center for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechcare), School of Health Sciences of Polytechnic of Leiria, Polytechnic of Leiria, 2410-541 Leiria, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-8

Abstract: The present study about falls among the older adult population essentially explores bio-physiological factors. In light of the complexity of the factors that cause these accidents, it is important to identify the safety and self-care practices of institutionalized older adults and their relationship with falls in order to introduce prevention measures and personalized cognitive–behavioral strategies. The objective of this study was to: (a) determine the frequency of falls and their recurrence among institutionalized older adults, and (b) to associate the occurrence of falls among institutionalized adults with or without cognitive impairment to communication and safety practices. This was a quantitative, correlational, and longitudinal study with 204 institutionalized older adults living in two long-term care facilities in Portugal. The Scale of Practices and Behaviors for Institutionalized Elderly to Prevent Falls was administered to the sample. The prevalence of falls at a 12-month follow-up was 41.6%, of which 38.3% were recurring episodes. Older adults with cognitive decline showed lower mean scores for safety practices. Further research with larger samples should explore the relationships between communication and safety practices and falls, their recurrence, and fear of new falls.

Keywords: accidental falls; aged; institutionalization; nursing homes; practices; risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7577/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7577/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:7577-:d:844168

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().