Investigating the Effectiveness of Balance and Strengthening Exercise and Modification of Home Environment on Risk for Fall among Older Adults in Rural Community

Abstract

Background: India is an aging society, the prevalent problems experienced by the older adults include sleep disorder, problems with eating or feeding, incontinence, confusion, depression, evidence of fall and skin break down. Falls are a leading cause of death in older adults. Falls lead to 20% to 30% of mild to severe injuries and major cause of 10% to 15% of all emergency department visits. Fall related injuries typically occur in the home. The main purpose of this study is to determining the effect of family focused nursing interventions on level of risk for fall among older adults at selected rural community, Chennai (India).
Materials and Methods: A true experimental study, two group pre and post-test was conducted among 220 older adults with risk of fall. Systematic sampling method was used to select the samples and screening of an older adults using Fulmer SPICES tool, risk for fall was assessed using Screening Assessment for Fall Evaluation (SAFE) tool. The balance and strengthening exercise and modification of home environment was administered to the older adults living in the community setting.
Results And Discussion: After administration of intervention, the overall means score for risk for fall 3.37 with the SD 1.21, whereas in control group, it was 7.35 with the SD 1.93 with t value 18.26, proved that there was a high statistical significant reduction of risk for fall in the experimental group (29.7%) than the control group(1.6%).
Conclusion: Balance and strengthening exercise and modification of home environment help to reduce the risk for fall significantly among older adults and promote active aging in community settings.