New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Health Educ Behav. 2021 Dec;48(6):899-906. doi: 10.1177/1090198120980358. Epub 2020 Dec 24.
Outdoor falls present a significant challenge to the health and well-being of older adults. Safe strategy use is an important component of falls prevention, yet little is known regarding use of outdoor falls prevention strategies.
To examine outdoor falls prevention strategy use among naturally occurring retirement community residents at risk for falls, and to examine associations with neighborhood walkability.
Descriptive analyses of pretest data from an intervention study ( = 97) were conducted to examine frequency of outdoor falls prevention strategy use. Walk Score data were added to the dataset, and chi-square tests of independence were used to examine associations between walkability categories and outdoor falls prevention strategy use.
Some strategies, such as visual scanning and holding rails on stairs, were used by 70% or more of participants while others, such as route planning, were infrequently or inconsistently used. With the exception of avoiding cell phone use while walking outdoors, no significant associations were found between walkability categories and outdoor falls prevention strategy use.
Study findings serve as a needs assessment for health education and behavioral training.
户外活动对老年人的健康和福祉构成了重大挑战。安全策略的使用是预防跌倒的重要组成部分，但对于户外活动预防策略的使用知之甚少。
检查有跌倒风险的自然发生退休社区居民中户外跌倒预防策略的使用情况，并检查其与邻里步行性的关联。
对干预研究的预测试数据（n=97）进行描述性分析，以检查户外跌倒预防策略的使用频率。将步行得分数据添加到数据集，并使用独立性卡方检验检查步行性类别与户外跌倒预防策略使用之间的关联。
一些策略，如视觉扫描和楼梯扶手，被 70%或更多的参与者使用，而其他策略，如路线规划，使用频率较低或不一致。除了避免在户外行走时使用手机外，步行性类别与户外跌倒预防策略的使用之间没有发现显著关联。
研究结果为健康教育和行为培训提供了需求评估。
