• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.104-112
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• 2005

Purpose: This research was conducted to determine the effects of a fall prevention program on knowledge, self-efficacy, prevention activity, and depression in the low-income elderly women. Method: The design of this study was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. There were 22 subjects in the experimental group and 22 in the control group. A fall prevention program was performed for approximately 40 minutes, once a week for 6 weeks. Results: The results of this study were as follows: There were statistically significant differences of knowledge, self-efficacy, and prevention activity related to falls and depression between the experimental group and control group. Conclusion: In conclusion, the fall prevention program used in this study is appropriate for the elderly, therefore this program is strongly recommended for community-based health and welfare centers.

• Journal of KIBIM
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.21-30
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• 2017

Due to the rapidly aging population, the death rate of elderly people by safety accidents has been increasing. In particular, precautions are needed for falls prevention because they either directly or indirectly cause death. In the case of elderly people, most of the fall accidents occur in dense residential areas, and particularly, the staircase poses a risk of falling. Therefore, a safety assessment should be performed from the design phase. However, in general, staircases are designed using existing stair data or only aims to satisfy the installation criteria. Laws and regulations only define minimum requirements for safety, so it is not possible to prevent fall accidents even if they satisfy the requirements. Therefore, this study proposes a simulation-based method for evaluating the safety of staircases. The behavioral characteristics of the elderly are implemented to an virtual user in a virtual space including staircases, and fall accidents are evaluated by the evaluation logic related to the behavioral characteristics. The result shows that the safety of staircases can be preevaluated and reflected on the design to reduce the possibility of fall accidents of the elderly.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.200-209
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the effects of a fall prevention program on knowledge, efficacy, and prevention behavior of falls among the low-income elderly. Methods: This study used a nonequivalent control group pre and post test quasi-experimental research design. The study was conducted from August to October, 2008 with 20 subjects in the experimental group and 22 in the control group who were registered at the public health center of S District in D City. Results: Hypothesis 1 "The experimental group that participated in the fall prevention program will show a higher degree of knowledge about falls than the control group" was supported. Hypothesis 2 "The experimental group will have a higher degree of self-efficacy of falls than the control group" was not supported. Hypothesis 3 "The experimental group will report fall prevention behavior more frequently than the control group" was supported. Conclusion: It was verified that the fall prevention program in this study was an effective intervention to improve knowledge about falls and fall prevention behaviors among the low-income elderly. The results can be used as part of an intervention to prevent falls for the vulnerable elderly such as the low-income elderly.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.1204-1208
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• 2011

In this study, we proposed the system that calculates the algorithm with an accelerometer signal and detects the fall shock and it's direction. In order to gather the activity patterns of fall status and attach on the subject's body without consciousness, the device needs to be small. With this aim, it is attached on the right side of subject's waist. With roll and pitch angle which represent the activity of upper body, the fall situation is determined and classified into the posture pattern. The impact is calculated by the vector magnitude of accelerometer signal. And in the case of the elderly keep the same posture after fall, it can distinguish the situation whether they can stand by themselves or not. Our experimental results showed that 95% successful detection rate of fall activity with 10 subjects. For further improvement of our system, it is necessary to include tasks-oriented classifying algorithm to diverse fall conditions.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.31-42
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• 2015

Objective : The aim of this study is to prove the effects of mental practice in balance ability of elderly population, and to investigate the possibility of application as an effective intervention method for fall prevention. Methods : This study provided mental practice to 3 subjects over 65 years old who have experienced fall, but do not have cognitive dysfunctions and independent in gait without any use of assistive devices from July to October, 2013. Within the individual case study, 4 sessions of initial baseline process (A), 5 sessions of mental practice (B), 4 sessions of re-initial baseline process (A') were proceeded using ABA design. Independent variable used mental practice for enhancing balance ability and fall efficacy in elderly population, and dependent variable were Berg Balance Scale (BBS) to find out the change in overall balance ability, Fall Efficacy Scale (FES) to see the change in fall efficacy, One-Leg Standing test(OLS), and Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) to determine the changes in both static and dynamic balance. Analysis of the results were provided via mean value and graph. Results : After the application of mental practice method, all of the subjects have shown increase in fall efficacy baseline values, and in addition, overall balance ability and both static and dynamic balances either increased or maintained. Conclusion : This study demonstrated that mental practice has positive effects on fall efficacy improvement and maintenance in elderly, thereby suggesting mental practice for fall prevention in elderly populations.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.276-290
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• 2013

PURPOSE: This study compared the elderly falls and the intrinsic fall risk factors according to gender. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was a secondary analysis of the data collected for medical checkups for the Transitional Periods of Life supported from the National Health Insurance. The subjects examined were 255,505 people aged 66 years in Korea between January and December, 2008. RESULTS: The elderly people aged 66 when in the transitional periods of life experienced 10.6% of their first falls. The first falls of women (12.4%) was greater than that of men (8.5%) in the elderly. The risk factors for falls included dysuria with an odds ratio of 6.2 to 6.6, depression with an odds ratio of 1.5 to 1.8, gait disturbance with an odds ratio of 1.3 to 1.5, and blindness with an odds ratio of 1.3 to 1.4 in both elderly women and men. CONCLUSIONS: Effective fall prevention should focus on dysuria because it is a more important predictor of falls, even though many intrinsic fall risk factors can affect falls in elderly people.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.268-275
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• 2012

Purpose: This study is to identify how eye movement influences the static balance and fall efficacy of the elderly who have experienced fall-related injuries. Methods: Thirty nine elderly who scored 24 points in the Korean mini mental state examination, were able to walk, and had no specific disease, were selected as the research subjects among elderly who have experienced fall-related injury more than once in the past year. Thus, 20 for the experimental group, and 19 for the control group were selected as subjects. The experiment was conducted for 6 weeks, including periods of evaluation before and after intervention. Results: The results with respect to the dependent variables are as follows: Substitute sample t-testing showed significant differences between each group in eye movement to check difference in balance performance and fall efficacy. When independent sample t-tests were conducted to compare static balancing performance and fall efficacy between the two groups after intervention, they showed significant differences in statistical terms (p<0.05). Conclusion: From the above results of the study, it was found that the application of eye movement combined with diverse fall prevention programs is effective, when enhancing static balance performance power and improving fall efficacy.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1330-1338
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• 2011

Social activities of the elderly have been increasing as our society progresses toward an aging society. As their activities increase, so does the occurrence of falls that could lead to fractures. Falls are serious health hazards to the elderly. Therefore, development of a device that can detect fall accidents and prevent fracture is essential. In this study, we developed a portable fall detection system for the fracture prevention system of the elderly. The device is intended to detect a fall and activate a second device such as an air bag deployment system that can prevent fracture. The fall detection device contains a 3-axis acceleration sensor and two 2-axis tilt sensors. We measured acceleration and tilt angle of body during fall and activities of daily(ADL) living using the fall detection device that is attached on the subjects'. Moving mattress which is actuated by a pneumatic system was used in fall experiments and it could provide forced falls. Sensor data during fall and ADL were sent to computer and filtered with low-pass filter. The developed fall detection device was successful in detecting a fall about 0.1 second before a severe impact to occur and detecting the direction of the fall to provide enough time and information for the fracture preventive device to be activated. The fall detection device was also able to differentiate fall from ADL such as walking, sitting down, standing up, lying down, and running.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the seniorobic program on physical function and fall in elderly. Methods: The experimental group and control group was composed of 22 subjects each. The subjects in the experimental group had participated in the seniorobic program for 12 weeks which consisted of exercise and education. Muscle strength, flexibility, balance and the frequency of fall for each subject were measured before, and at the 6th and 12th weeks of the seniorobic program. Data were analyzed using SPSS /WIN 12.0 program. Results: The experimental group had significantly increased their flexibility at the 6th and 12th weeks of the seniorobic program, their the lower limb muscle strength and balance at the 12th week of the seniorobic program. There was no significant difference in the frequency of fall between the experimental group and the control group during the period of seniorobic program. Conclusion: These results suggest that the seniorobic program can increase lower limb muscle strength, flexibility and improve the balance of the elderly.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.38-48
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• 2011

The aim of the study was to identify which fall-prevention program offered in community settings in Korea is the most effective in strengthening muscles. Muscle weakness is one of the major risk factors causing falls among the elderly. Randomized controlled trials and clinical controlled trials published between 1996 and February 2011 were included in this study. Seventeen of the 69 identified studies met the study's criteria and were included in this meta-analysis. The overall effect size of the program was .822 (95% confidence interval= .717~.927). The general strengthening exercise (1.608), dance sports training (1.538), Thera-band exercise for lower extremities (1.517), Seniorobic exercise (1.146), gait training (.959), balance training (.909), gradual resistive exercise (.888), and multifactorial fall prevention (.842) programs all show positive effects on muscle strengthening. Subgroup analyses found that more relative effects are seen in programs offered to the more elderly. In this study, the effect of increasing muscle strength on the prevention of falls can only be indirectly suggested; there are few available studies that report the frequency or history of falls in Korea. Further studies are needed to examine the direct effect of fall prevention exercise programs among the elderly.