• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.223-235
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• 2004

Objectives: This study was to evaluate the actual condition of falls among community-dwelling elderly people and its related factors to prepare for the establishment of comprehensive prevention programs of senior population. Methods: The study subjects included 460 home residents over 65 years in a district of Chungnam Province and interviews were given to all of them, asking about experiences of falls and their related factors. The analysis of study results came to the following conclusions. Results: The rate of falls among total subjects was 35.5%. With the percentage by age and sex, over 70's and female were significantly higher than male(p=0.000) and under 69 (p=0.008). The groups with poor visual acuity and hearing ability had higher rate of falls than the normal groups based on their health status. In terms of place they experienced falls, out-door occurrence accounted for 53.4% of total falls, which was higher 46.6% of in-door. By season when falls are experienced, "winter" showed the greatest rate, and by time of the day, evening had the highest rate. By causes of falls, "Slippery ground"accounted for 30.5% and "Tumbled over" 23.5% of total falls, respectively, showing the major role of environmental causes for falls. For individual factors, "Irritability" and "Carelessness" occupied 11.3%, 10.8% of total falls, respectively. The Odds Ratios for falls in women was 2.19 times higher than in men, and those in 70's are 2.01 times higher than in 60's, and those with abnormal BMI was 3.68 times higher than in normal groups, and those with perceived symptoms was 1.94 times higher than those without. Conclusions: It is suggested that more consideration should be directed toward taking comprehensive and systematic prevention measures ranging from setting-up the injury-protective environments to allowing senior citizens to have competence in ADL activity as well as proper general health conditions, considering the higher rate of falls for elderly persons in a rural part of this country than that of western countries and the greater proportion of falls which can be ascribed to environmental factors.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.333-343
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the fall prevention awareness of care-givers working at long-term care hospitals. A convenience sampling method was used to select care-givers who worked at 7 different long term care hospitals which were located in D city and N city. Data were collected from July 2014 to August 2014. 200 data were used for analysis out of 215 data which were collected. The hierarchical regression analysis reveals the following results: Firstly, the effects of care-givers' education level, certificate status, period of work experience and fall-related learning hours on their fall prevention awareness level were statistically significant. Secondly, among fall prevention health beliefs, perceived benefit, perceived disability, perceived sensitivity and self-efficacy were positively related to the level of fall prevention awareness. Thirdly, while such factors as perceived benefit, perceived sensitivity and self-efficacy showed positive effects on the fall prevention awareness, the period of work experience had negative effects. The regression model shows the power of explanation of 31.7 percents. In conclusion, the study suggests a fine-tuned program to improve care-givers' fall prevention awareness in a way of promoting fall prevention self-efficacy, perceived benefits and perceived sensitivity while considering the care-givers' period of work experience.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.252-265
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• 2015

Purpose: This study examined the circumstances, risk factors, and the predictors of fall incidents among patients in the small and medium-sized hospitals. Methods: Fifty patients with any fall experiences were matched by gender, age, and medical departments with 100 patients without fall incident at the same hospital. Data were collected from 5 small and medium-sized hospitals. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a Chi-square test, a Fisher's exact test, and a logistic regression with the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. Results: In the patients with falls, the largest number of falls occurred during the day shift, in the patients' rooms, and while they were walking. Further 74.0% of the patients had physical injuries, and 34.0% had to take further medical diagnostic tests. Significant differences were found between the patients with falls and the others on 14 variables (cardiovascular disease, anemia, sedative-hypnotics, vasodilators, narcotic analgesics, dizziness, general weakness, unstable gait, walking aids, anger, anxiety, depression, orientation, and fear of fall). Narcotic analgesic use, dizziness, walking aids, and cardiovascular disease were identified as the predictors of fall incidents. Conclusion: These findings are hoped to be used in developing a fall risk assessment tool and fall prevention nursing programs for small and medium-sized hospitals.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

This study aimed to find out the factors influencing the fall of middle-aged women aged 40 to 64 and to use it as basic data for the development of a fall prevention program. The study was based on raw data from the 2019 Korea Community Health Survey. To establish the impact of fall experience of middle-aged women, descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and multiple logistic regression were used. Of the 43,917 people surveyed, 11.9% of middle-aged women said that they had experienced a fall. Falls were more common among women with increasing age or without a spouse. Those who experienced a lot of depression and perceived stress and were diagnosed with diabetes also had a higher fall experience. In the case of drinking, women who drank more than non-drinkers were more likely to fall. The results of this study can lead to a better understanding middle-aged women who have experienced falls, and they can be used as basic data for the development of related health programs.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.6353-6363
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• 2013

This study examined the factors associated with recurrent falls among the community-dwelling elderly. The participants were 329 community-dwelling elderly. The data was collected from February 5, 2010 to February 14, 2010. Over the past 1 year, 14.3% of the 329 participants fall once, and 4.0% experienced recurrent falls. There was a significant difference among the non fallers, single faller and recurrent fallers with regard to the static balance(F=5.86, p=.003), dynamic balance(F=24.32, p<.001), risk of fall(F=9.94, p<.001) and compliance of prevention behavior related to falls(F=3.09, p=.047). The analysis results for the correlation between variables showed that the number of falls had a negative effect on the knee flexors muscular strength(r=-.15, p=.008), static balance(r=-.16, p=.004) and compliance of prevention behavior related to falls(r=-.12, p=.030) and a positive affect for the dynamic balance(r=.26, p<.001), depression(r=.13, p=.019) and risk of falls(r=.30, p<.001). The variables explained 36.0% of the variants in the occurrence of recurrent falls. Therefore, an effective recurrent fall prevention program should focus on multiple risk factor intervention.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2018

This study is a descriptive research study for examining the general characteristics and health-related characteristics of the elderly in a local community, investigating factors for the fear of fall and identifying the relationship between the fear of fall, attitude to fall and fall efficacy. The subject of this study was 140 senior citizens who are using a community center in D city. The collected data was analyzed with the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. The result of the study showed there was a significant difference in the fear of fall according to gender, person living together, subjective health condition, pain and unsafe gait. There was a significant negative correlation between the fear of fall and fall fear and fall efficacy. However, fall fear and fall efficacy were positive correlated. This study aims to provide necessary preliminary data for developing fall prevention program that can improve the fear of fall, attitude to fall and fall efficay based on the results of this study.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.278-287
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• 2019

This study was conducted to identify the predictors influencing fear of falling in community-dewelling elderly. A secondary data analysis was performed using data of 65 years or older elderly who participating in the 2014 Korean Elderly Survey(Jun. 11th ~ Sep. 4th 2014). Multivariated logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors of fear of falling. 81.5% of the elderly had fear of falling. There were significant factors, sex(OR=2.87, p<.001), education(OR=1.73, p<.001), presence of cohabiting spouse(OR=1.19, p<.001), experience of falling(OR=6.35, p<.001), arthritis(OR=1.83, p<.001), depression(OR=2.25, p<.001), cognitive deficit (OR=1.24, p<.001), instrumental activities of daily living (OR=1.98, p<.001), exercise(OR=1.29, p<.001) and the number of chronic diseases(over 3: OR=2.53, p<.001, 1~2: OR=1.73, p<.001), predicting fear of falling in community-dwelling elderly. Fear of falling was associated with multifactorial condition, and arthritis was an important factor in chronic disease. This study will provide fundamental information on programming and a policy proposal related to fear of falling.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1577-1589
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to compare the health status, functional status, and home environment hazards by the fear of falling and explore the factors that contribute to the fear of falling. This was a descriptive study. Data were collected for two years with 973 older adults who enrolled in a health center at A city. Trained nurses visited subjects' home and collected data using Resident Assessment Instrument MDS-HC. The average age of the subjects was 76.8 (±7.6) and female was 74.8%. 20.7% of subjects reported fear of falling. In terms of the fear of falling, two groups were compared. There were significant differences in vision, urinary incontinence, pain that interrupts daily activity, unstable gait, comorbidities, frequency of depressive or anxious sign. The greater the age, IADL and ADL dependency, comorbidities, unstabled gait, the more fear of falling. In conclusion, this study reassured the importance of assessing the major factors related to fear of falling such as age, IADL and ADL, comorbities, gait among older adults. This study will contribute to establish strategies for preventing fall. Reducing the fear of falling through the comprehensive nursing intervention will ultimately improve the quality of life in the elderly.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.485-491
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to compare of the fall risk factors for elderly in the city. 62 people aged 65 years or older were classified as fallers and nonfallers based on experience of their falls in the previous year. By comparing the difference between the groups via evaluations of general characteristics, health related behavior and chronic disease, balance-related psychological (K-ABC) and physical measurement (BBS), depression (SGDS), and the correlations between the significant differences in variables were identified. According to the results, K-ABC, BBS, and SGDS are statistically significant differences between fallers and nonfallers (P<0.05). Also it has positive correlations between BBS and K-ABC (r=0.499) whereas negative correlation between K-ABC and SGDS(r=-0.472).

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.243-258
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• 2009

Background: Falls are among the most common and serious health problems of older people. The psychological symptoms of falling have received relatively little attention compared to physical problems. Objective: The purpose of this study is to test a model to explain the factors that influence fear of falling among older adults living in a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Baltimore city, United States. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted using data obtained from a Health Promotion Survey done on 149 older adults living in a CCRC. Data was originally obtained during face to face interviews with each participant. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were used to describe the sample and evaluate simple correlations. A path analysis was done using the AMOS 4.0 statistical program. Results: Of the 49 hypothesized paths, 13 were statistically significant, and the model accounted for 22% of the variance in fear of falling among the elderly. There was support for the fit of the model to the data with a nonsignificant chi square at 0.478 (df=2, p=0.79), and the ratio of chi-square to degrees of freedom was 0.24, a CFI of 0.99 and RMSEA of 0.00. In particular, gender, a history of falling, and exercise were significant predictors of fear of falling. Conclusions/Implications: As anticipated, exercise is an important factor to prevent fear of falling. As a modifiable variable, self-efficacy and outcome expectation indirectly influence fear of falling through exercise.