Fear of Falling and Related Factors in Elderly Living Alone Based on Fall Experience

Lee, Myungsuk; Lee, Yunbok

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study was to investigate fear of falling and related factors in elderly living alone based on fall experience.
METHODS
Participants were 404 elderly women(faller=148, non-faller=256) over 65 years who were homebound living alone in Jeollanam-do Province. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using questionnaires from April 23th to June 9th 2013. The questionnaires consisted of demographic variables, fall experience, Fear of falling questionnaire(FOFQ), Falls Efficacy Scale(FES) and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression(CES-D). The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS version 14.0.
RESULTS
The fear of falling and the influential factors were different according to fall experience. Regression model for fear of falling in fallers significantly accounted for 46.1%(F=6.71, p<0.001); difficulty of performing activity, depression, fall-efficacy, static balance and assistive devices. Regression model for fear of falling in non-fallers significantly accounted for 55.2%(F=15.16, p<0.001); fall-efficacy, environmental hazards, difficulty of performing activity, risk of nutrition, housing type, dizziness and assistive devices.
CONCLUSION
Results demonstrate that fall is an important health problem for elderly women living alone, and show fall experience for factors influencing fear of falling. These results could be used in the developing fall prevention programs.