SELECTED VARIABLES ASSOCIATED WITH FALLING IN A MALE GERIATRIC REHABILITATION AND LONG-TERM CARE SETTING.
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 124
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Gerontology.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine selected variables and their association with falling, and identify predictors of falling in a male geriatric setting.

Research questions were: (a) What is the association between falling and the variables: relocation, functional status, mental status, medications, medical diagnoses, history of prior fall, age, and time of day? (b) Which of these predict whether or not a patient will fall?.

A prospective study design was used. The setting was a 250 bed rehabilitation and long-term care facility; 117 men participated. If a subject fell more than once, data were collected but not analyzed in full because it was not a part of the study design. Pre-fall measures, such as: location, functional and mental status (measured by the Barthel Index and Mini-Mental Status Examination, respectively), age, history of prior fall, medical diagnoses, and medications were collected on all subjects. When a subject fell, relocation, time of day, functional and mental status, diagnoses, and medications were obtained within 24-48 hours.

The sample was male with an age range from 57 to 95 years (M = 68), the majority were caucasian (65%), married (47%), had eight years of education (64%), 48 (41%) fell; 69 (59%) did not fall. Five hypotheses that were accepted as associated with falling were: relocation, prior history of fall, functional status, medical diagnoses (psychiatric, endocrine/metabolic, gastrointestinal, and cancer), and no significant difference due to age. Predictors of falling were: relocation and functional status. Relevant additional findings included 28 (23.9%) of the subjects died within one year of entering the study. Eighteen (15.4%) died within a year after sustaining a fall. Ten (8.5%) died within a year but had no fall. In terms of predicting death, only relocation by itself predicted death. However, all of the variables together; relocation, fall, mental status, number of medical diagnoses, and age were significant in predicting death. Another finding in this study, was that those who fell once were likely to fall again. No injury occurred to 39 (81.3%); two (4.2%) sustained a fracture, and seven (14.6%) of the subjects experienced either an abrasion, contusion, or minor laceration. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-06, Section: B, page: 2821.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1989.

School code: 0043.