Fall awareness behaviour and its associated factors among community dwelling older adults.

BACKGROUND: Falls are one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in older adults. However, despite adoption of prevention strategies, the number of falls in older adults has not declined. The aim of this study was to examine fall awareness behaviour and its associated factors among Malaysian community dwelling older adults. METHODS: A total of 144 community dwelling older adults (mean age of 70.69 ± 4.3 years) participated in this study. Physical performance were assessed using timed up and go (TUG), gait speed (GS), chair stand and hand grip tests. Fall Awareness Behaviour (FaB) and Fall Risk Assessment Questionnaires (FRAQ) were administered to assess behaviour and fall prevention knowledge respectively. RESULTS: Stepwise linear regression analysis showed that the practice of fall awareness behaviour (R2 = 0.256) was significantly associated with being male [95% C.I: 2.178 to 7.789, p < 0.001], having lower BMI [95% C.I: - 0.692 to - 0.135, p < 0.05], living with family [95% C.I: 0.022 to 5.953, p < 0.05] and those having higher functional mobility [95% C.I: - 2.008 to - 0.164, p < 0.05]. CONCLUSIONS: Fall awareness behaviour should be emphasized among older females, those with lower functional mobility, higher BMI and living alone.

Correction: A Mobile App (FallSA) to Identify Fall Risk Among Malaysian Community-Dwelling Older Persons: Development and Validation Study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/23663.].

A Mobile App (FallSA) to Identify Fall Risk Among Malaysian Community-Dwelling Older Persons: Development and Validation Study.

BACKGROUND: Recent falls prevention guidelines recommend early routine fall risk assessment among older persons. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to develop a Falls Screening Mobile App (FallSA), determine its acceptance, concurrent validity, test-retest reliability, discriminative ability, and predictive validity as a self-screening tool to identify fall risk among Malaysian older persons. METHODS: FallSA acceptance was tested among 15 participants (mean age 65.93 [SD 7.42] years); its validity and reliability among 91 participants (mean age 67.34 [SD 5.97] years); discriminative ability and predictive validity among 610 participants (mean age 71.78 [SD 4.70] years). Acceptance of FallSA was assessed using a questionnaire, and it was validated against a comprehensive fall risk assessment tool, the Physiological Profile Assessment (PPA). Participants used FallSA to test their fall risk repeatedly twice within an hour. Its discriminative ability and predictive validity were determined by comparing participant fall risk scores between fallers and nonfallers and prospectively through a 6-month follow-up, respectively. RESULTS: The findings of our study showed that FallSA had a high acceptance level with 80% (12/15) of older persons agreeing on its suitability as a falls self-screening tool. Concurrent validity test demonstrated a significant moderate correlation (r=.518, P<.001) and agreement (k=.516, P<.001) with acceptable sensitivity (80.4%) and specificity (71.1%). FallSA also had good reliability (intraclass correlation .948; 95% CI .921-.966) and an internal consistency (α=.948, P<.001). FallSA score demonstrated a moderate to strong discriminative ability in classifying fallers and nonfallers. FallSA had a predictive validity of falls with positive likelihood ratio of 2.27, pooled sensitivity of 82% and specificity of 64%, and area under the curve of 0.802. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that FallSA is a valid and reliable fall risk self-screening tool. Further studies are required to empower and engage older persons or care givers in the use of FallSA to self-screen for falls and thereafter to seek early prevention intervention.