The Effect of a fall prevention program on gait and balance of community-dwelling elders

Abstract

To examine the effect of a fall prevention program on gait and balance of community-dwelling elders. The program was constructed by applying the health belief model, Knowles' adult learning principle, and considerations for normal aging changes. The program included 4-fall prevention education sessions and 8-Tai Chi exercise sessions. Then, the participants had practiced fall prevention behavior and practiced Tai Chi exercise in group sessions 3 days/week throughout the 8 weeks of intervention A Fall Prevention Behavior manual and a 18 form Tai Chi exercise manual, a CD in Tai Chi exercise instructional, and a poster depicting Tai Chi exercise were given to all the participants in experimental group.The participants were the community-dwelling elders had at least 1 fall in 12 month prior to participating in the study and lived in the urban area in Amphur Maung, Chonburi province. The researcher determined whether each participant met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The variables of age, gender, and number of falls were used to matched paired for the similarity between the experimental and control groups. Finally, the subjects were 23 in each the experimental and control groups. Data were collected once before and once after providing the intervention. Hypotheses testing were tested by the paired t test for the Berg Balance Scale and the Time Up and Go test mean scores. The results indicated that after participation in a Fall Prevention Program, the experimental group had significantly higher mean score of the Berg Balance Scale and had significantly lower or better mean score of the Time up and Go test than the control group (p < .05). The analysis results also showed that after participation in a Fall Prevention Program, the experimental group had significantly increase their mean score of the Berg Balance Scale (p < .05) and had significantly lower or better mean score of the Time up and Go test than before participation the program (p < .05). The finding indicated that a Fall Prevention Program in this study is effectively on improving gait and balance in the elders and can be an effective care for promoting gait and balance for prevention falls in elders especially who have high risk of falls.