Fear of falling

Abstract

Fear of falling (FOF) is a significant health problem that can be present in the elderly, both in those that had experienced falling and in those that hadn't. The aim of the study was to establish correlation of FOF with the following characteristics of the participants: sex, age, education, marital status and the number of falls in the previous year. Performed from October to December 2014, the research included 100 participants from general population older than 65 and covered by health visiting service of Dom Zdravlja Nis. The questionnaire for assessment of FOF - Falls Efficacy Scale (FES) and the epidemiological questionnaire were used in all participants. We established that there is statistically significant difference of FES values (hi-kvadrat=7.668, p<0.05) between different age groups. It was found that median value of FES questionnaire is statistically significantly higher in participants living as singles in relation to those living in a community (U=828.0, p<0.05). There is satistically significant medium correlation between FES values and the number of falls in the previous year (r=0.661, p<0.01). This research established that FOF is associated with age and the number of falls in the previous year, that implies the need for prevention of FOF, especially in elder people and in people that experienced one or more falls. Implementation of prevention is also important in people living alone because FOF is excessive in their case.

Keywords

• FES
• fear of falling
• falling
• the elderly