Stewart Jennie, McVittie Chris
Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK.
Eur J Ageing. 2011 Oct 20;8(4):271-279. doi: 10.1007/s10433-011-0202-8. eCollection 2011 Dec.
Despite world-wide emphasis on falls prevention, falls and their consequences remain a major health issue for older people, and their health care providers. Many systematic reviews have been undertaken to evaluate the impact of intervention programmes on falls reduction, however, relatively little research provides a voice for older people's own perceptions of such programmes. To readdress this imbalance the current research utilized a purposive sampling method to recruit a hard to reach group of older people who had received a post-fall health and social-care programme to investigate their experiences of the programme. Semi-structured interviews with eight housebound people aged over 65 who had fallen were undertaken, and data analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four themes were identified: losing independence; losing confidence; losing social identity; managing a changed self. Despite a tailored intervention programme minimal improvement in participants' psychological adjustment to falls was noted. Outcomes from this study are of interest to health and social-care staff who deliver falls prevention programmes. Staff need to enhance constructive adjustment to the older person's altered circumstances and ensure behaviours do not exacerbate their clients' loss of independence. This should assist older people's ability to positively manage their sense of self, allowing them to find continuing meaning in their daily lives.
尽管全球都在强调预防跌倒，但跌倒及其后果仍是老年人及其医疗服务提供者面临的一个重大健康问题。许多系统性综述已被开展，以评估干预项目对减少跌倒的影响，然而，相对较少的研究关注老年人对这类项目的自身看法。为了纠正这种不平衡，当前的研究采用了目的抽样方法，招募了一群难以接触到的老年人，他们接受了跌倒后健康和社会护理项目，以调查他们对该项目的体验。对八名65岁以上居家且曾跌倒的老人进行了半结构化访谈，并使用解释现象学分析对数据进行了分析。确定了四个主题：失去独立性；失去信心；失去社会身份；应对改变的自我。尽管有一个量身定制的干预项目，但参与者对跌倒的心理调适改善甚微。这项研究的结果对实施预防跌倒项目的健康和社会护理人员来说很有意义。工作人员需要加强对老年人改变后的状况进行建设性调适，并确保行为不会加剧客户独立性的丧失。这应该有助于老年人积极管理自我意识，使他们能够在日常生活中找到持续的意义。
