Department of Medical Rehabilitation, College of Health Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria.
Department of Medical Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Nigeria.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2021 May-Jun;94:104375. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2021.104375. Epub 2021 Feb 4.
Falls and fear of falling (FOF) have serious adverse effects for older adults. Culturally-specific and environmentally-tailored interventions may help address the problems of falls and FOF. No such interventions are however available for use in the African context.
To explore falls and FOF among older adults in an assisted-living facility, as a foundation for developing interventions to address falls and FOF.
This qualitative study involved purposefully recruiting nine older adults and four caregivers at an assisted-living facility in Southeast Nigeria. Focus group discussions were conducted separately for older adults and the caregivers. Data were analysed using an Inductive Approach.
Four themes emerged: incidence of falls and fear of falling; factors associated with falls and fear of falling; health implications of falls and fear of falling; and coping strategies to deal with falls and fear of falling. Older adults were experiencing a high prevalence of falls and FOF perceived to be caused by both cultural/environmental/institutional-related factors (poorly lit environment at night; poor ambulatory surfaces; unwillingness to accept age-related changes in physical capacity; poor disposition towards walking aids; poor treatment of injuries; misconceptions; poor physical activity participation; and external perturbation) and intrinsic factors (psychological/emotional, concentration/attention, socio-demographic and morbidity-related).
The older adults were experiencing a high prevalence of falls and FOF which has a multifactorial origin of common and cultural/societal/institutional/environmental-related factors. The need for a multicomponent and culturally and environmentally-specific interventions to address falls and FOF in this sample is thus highlighted.
跌倒和恐跌（FOF）对老年人有严重的不良影响。针对特定文化和环境的干预措施可能有助于解决跌倒和 FOF 问题。然而，在非洲背景下，没有这样的干预措施可供使用。
探讨老年人在辅助生活设施中跌倒和 FOF 的情况，为制定解决跌倒和 FOF 的干预措施奠定基础。
本定性研究通过有目的地在尼日利亚东南部的一个辅助生活设施中招募了 9 名老年人和 4 名护理人员。分别对老年人和护理人员进行了焦点小组讨论。使用归纳法分析数据。
出现了四个主题：跌倒和 FOF 的发生率；与跌倒和 FOF 相关的因素；跌倒和 FOF 的健康影响；以及应对跌倒和 FOF 的策略。老年人跌倒和 FOF 的发生率较高，被认为是由文化/环境/机构相关因素（夜间照明不良；行走表面不佳；不愿意接受身体能力与年龄相关的变化；对助行器的不良态度；受伤处理不当；误解；身体活动参与度低；和外部干扰）和内在因素（心理/情绪、注意力、社会人口统计学和与发病率相关）引起的。
老年人跌倒和 FOF 的发生率较高，其起源于常见的文化/社会/机构/环境相关因素和内在因素。因此，需要针对这个样本提出多方面的、具有文化和环境针对性的干预措施来解决跌倒和 FOF 问题。
