Chippendale Tracy, Raveis Victoria
New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Department of Occupational Therapy, New York, NY, USA.
New York University, College of Dentistry, Psychosocial Research Unit on Health, Aging and the Community (PRUHAC), New York, NY, USA.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2017 Sep;72:19-24. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2017.04.008. Epub 2017 May 6.
Although the epidemiology and prevention of falls has been well studied, the focus has been on indoor rather than outdoor falls. Older adults' knowledge of outdoor risk factors and their outdoor fall prevention practices have not been examined. To fill this gap, and to inform the development of a prevention program, we sought to explore the experiences and fall prevention knowledge and practices of older adults who had sustained an outdoor fall.
A cross-sectional study using random digit telephone dialing was used to survey community dwelling seniors (N=120) across the five boroughs of New York City. We used the Outdoor Falls Questionnaire (OFQ), a valid and reliable tool as the survey instrument. Perceived outdoor fall risks, strategies used for prevention, and outdoor fall experiences were examined. SPSS version 21 was used for descriptive analysis of participant characteristics and to determine frequencies of perceived outdoor fall risks and strategies used for prevention. Phenomenological analysis was used with the qualitative data. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed separately and a mixed methods matrix was used to interpret and integrate the findings.
Analysis revealed diverse unmet education and training needs including the importance of using single vision glasses, understanding the fall risks associated with recreational areas and parking lots, safe outdoor walking strategies, safe carrying of items on level and uneven surfaces, as well as when walking up and down stairs, and safety in opening/closing doors.
Study findings are informative for outdoor fall prevention programs as well as practice.
尽管跌倒的流行病学和预防已经得到了充分研究，但重点一直是室内跌倒而非室外跌倒。老年人对室外风险因素的了解及其室外跌倒预防措施尚未得到研究。为了填补这一空白，并为预防计划的制定提供依据，我们试图探索有过室外跌倒经历的老年人的经历、跌倒预防知识和措施。
采用随机数字拨号的横断面研究方法，对纽约市五个行政区的社区居住老年人（N = 120）进行调查。我们使用了有效的可靠工具《室外跌倒问卷》（OFQ）作为调查工具。研究了感知到的室外跌倒风险、预防策略以及室外跌倒经历。使用SPSS 21版对参与者特征进行描述性分析，并确定感知到的室外跌倒风险和预防策略的频率。对定性数据采用现象学分析。定性和定量数据分别进行分析，并使用混合方法矩阵来解释和整合研究结果。
分析揭示了各种未满足的教育和培训需求，包括使用单光眼镜的重要性、了解与娱乐区和停车场相关的跌倒风险、安全的室外行走策略、在平坦和不平坦表面以及上下楼梯时安全携带物品，以及开关门时的安全问题。
研究结果对室外跌倒预防计划和实践具有参考价值。
