Effects of self-care on fall prevention program for older adults in a community, Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand

Abstract

                  Falling is one of the major risks in older adults causing serious health problems. The purpose of this quasiexperimental study was to examine the effects of a fall preventing program based on Orem’s self-care theory. Thirty older adults over 60 years of age living in Ban-nai village were invited to participate and signed consent form in the study. The three weeks of fall preventing program consisted of daily exercise for balancing and strengthening of legs muscles, creating a protective home environment, and education on side-effects of daily medications. Data were collected before and after the intervention program including socio-demographic data, capacity of self-care on fall prevention, risk of fall (TUGT-Time up and Go test). Data analysis was performed using a descriptive analysis and paired t-test.
                The results revealed that after older adults received the program, their capacity of self-care on fall prevention were significantly higher than pretest (p-value = 0.01). While the mean scores of fall risk in aging were lesser than pretest (p-value = 0.000). Therefore, this Self-care Promoting on Fall Prevention program for older adults might be applicable for District Health Promotion Hospital.