• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.106-117
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify nurses' experience of falls by inpatients. Methods: From December 30, 2015 to February 22, 2016 data were collected through in-depth individual interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Participants were 11 clinical nurses and 2 head nurses. Results: Nurses' experience related to inpatients' falls were categorized as follows: 'emotional impact after falls', 'responsibility for falls', 'changes after experience of falls', 'burden of reporting falls', 'difficulty in preventing falls', 'seeking new strategies for fall prevention' Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest that there is a need to develop programs to help nurses overcome the emotional impact of falls. Also education should be provided to patients, caregivers and health providers in order to prevent falls and improve patient safety.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.19-24
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• 2011

Background: The elderly are likely to fall due to physical and mental atrophies, and experiencing falls may result in fear of falls and lack of self-confidence, which also leads to hesitation to physical activities and changes in walk and balance, the major variables in independent daily life. Methods: In three senior citizen centers located in D city, 22 elderly women aged 65 or older were chosen, and they filled in the questionnaire which included their agreement to voluntarily participate in the survey and medical histories. As to whether they had falls experience, the medical history items in the questionnaire asked them if they had falling down or falls once a year, twice for the three years. The objects were divided to NFE (non-falls experience) and FE (falls experience). Results: 1. As to walking abilities, significant difference was found between NFE and FE regarding walk width, stepping with two feet, and stride length while there was no significant different in terms of cadence. 2. As to balancing abilities, was significant difference between NFE and FE in terms of the physical body center area. As to the sit-to-stand, tandom gait test, no significant difference was found, and neither in the timed up and go test. Conclusions: The elderly with falls experience has inferior walking and balancing abilities to those without falls experience, and thus they are more exposed to the risks of falls.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.249-260
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the realities related with the in-home falls of the elderly and also the factors that affect on the fails. Method: The data collection was carried out from January 10 to 13, 2005. The subjects of this study were 201 in-home elderly people over age 60 who resided at G city of Jeollabuk-do. Result: The following are the results from the analysis of collected data with using the SPSS program. 1. The number of people who experienced fall injuries was 51.7% within three years. Most cases of falls occurred in winter (52.4%), on roads (52.9%), wearing sports shoes (56.7%), when walking (56.7%), loosing their balance (54.8%), and slipping (54.8%). 2. The factors yielding the difference between the groups of elderly with the experience of fail injury and the group of elderly with no experience of falls showed a statistical significance for gender (p=.000), last academic career (p=.049), and number of people in the family (p=.041). 3. Among the factors related with health, the factors yielding the difference between the group of elderly with the experience of falls and the group of elderly with no experience of fails showed statistical significance for drinking (p=.015), dizziness (p=.000) and level of drug intakes (p=.015). 4. The elderly with the experience of fall injury as compared with the group of aged people with no experience of falls showed a higher degree of depression (p=.009). 5. From the result of logistic regression analysis to explore the factors affecting the experience of fall injury, it was found that there was a significant result for gender (p=.002) and depression (p=.018). Women as compared with men and the elderly with depression showed a higher rate of danger in falls. Conclusion: Based on the above results, it is expected that fall prevention programs are needed with regard to the general characteristics and health related characteristics, that is, the individual danger factors should be focused on such depression and gender as being the most important variables affecting the experience of falls.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2012

Objective: Falls are defined as contact of the body with the floor after losing balance during activities of daily living. Falls commonly occur among the elderly, and stroke patients in particular are at a high risk of falling. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes of temporal and spatial gait parameters and gait symmetry according to experience falls in post-stroke patients. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Fifty three patients with stroke were recruited on a voluntary basis from the rehabilitation unit, who currently undergoing physical therapy. All participants were asked to answer questions regarding the frequency of falls in the past 1 year. Fifty-three patients with stroke were allocated 2 groups according to experienced falls: stroke with falls (n=26) during past 1 year and stroke without falls (n=27). The spatial and temporal gait parameters and gait symmetry ratio were measured using GAITRite system. Results: The spatial gait parameters and the temporal gait parameters were significantly different between the stroke with falls group and the stroke without falls group (p<0.05). Furthermore, step length was the only significantly different among symmetry ratio (p<0.05). Conclusions: Experience of falls can lead to impairment of gait ability in stroke patients. This result is expected to be used as a basic data for rehabilitation program development to prevent a fall of post-stroke patients.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.189-197
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of symptom experience and depression on the falls efficacy of elderly patients who were undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: The questionnaires were administered to 105 elderly patients over 65 years hospitalizing for chemotherapy from October 25 to December 30, 2018. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, $Scheff{\acute{e}}$ test, Pearson's correlations and Multiple Linear Regression, ursing an SPSS/WIN 22.0 program. Results: Falls efficacy was negatively correlated with the symptom experience (r=-.58, p<.001), and depression (r=-.57, p<.001). Symptom experience and depression were positively correlated (r=.72, p<.001). The significantly influential factors of falls efficacy were age (${\beta}=-.34$, p<.001), symptom experience (${\beta}=-.24$, p=.022), and the history of falls (${\beta}=-.15$, p=.040), explaining 57.0% of the variance in falls efficacy. Conclusion: The main findings of this study can be used as the foundation for developing programs to increase the falls efficacy of elderly patients undergoing chemotherapy.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.14-22
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the experience of falls, the fear of falling and fall efficacy and identify the predictors of falls in the elderly at senior citizens' centers. Method: The subjects of this study were 106 elders who used senior citizens' centers in Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea. Data were collected from May to June, 2006 through a survey using a structured questionnaire. Result: Of the elderly sampled, 35.8% experienced falls during the last 1 year. Of falls experienced by the elderly, 53% occurred indoors, 47% outdoors, 15.8% in the bathroom or toilet. In addition, 57.8% of the elderly had injuries on the hip and waist related with falls. The fear of falling was higher in those with experience in falls than in those without. Factors affecting the elders' falls were age (OR=1.113, 95% CI=1.012-1.224), the number of chronic disease (OR=2.342, 95% CI=1.365-4.019) and the fear of falling (OR=4.279, 95% CI=1.901-9.634). The predictor of the frequency of falls was fall efficacy ($R^2=24.9$). Conclusion: As a result, it is essential to develop fall prevention programs based on the fear of falling, fall efficacy, chronic diseases and medication state. And in senior citizens' centers, fall prevention safety education should be activated as a health promotion program.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.91-101
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the experience of falls and identify risk factors associated with falls. Methods: The participants were 233 community-dwelling elderly people in two cities. Data were collected by interviewing the elderly with structured questionnaires from May to June, 2012. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression were performed using SPSS version 17.0. Results: Age, educational level, living arrangement, health status, the use of assistive devices, the number of medication, hypertension, arthralgia, dizziness, fall efficacy, fear of falling, activity of daily living, and quality of life were significant associated with fall experience. Through multiple logistic regression analysis, arthralgia, dizziness, fall efficacy, and fear of falling were identified as significant predictors of falls. Conclusion: It is important to identify the risk factors for falls among the elderly living in community. Fall prevention interventions should be multifactorial, especially for the elderly who were identified as the high risk group.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.227-237
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was to identify the experience of falls and activities of daily living, health-related quality of life among the aged in community. Method: Subjects of this study were used by the raw data is based on the Community Health Survey in 2008. The subjects consisted of 73 persons who have experienced falls and of randomized 73 persons who inexperienced falls among 3755 the aged over the age of 65, living in Chungnam Province. The data were collected by using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS 14.0 for windows. Result: Most of accidents and poisonings were caused by slide/falls, and took place at home. Especially women experienced falls at home. Lower extremities were the most injured area. There was a statistical difference in activities of daily living, health-related quality of life in two groups: inexperienced group and experienced group. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the falls were related to activities of daily living and health-related quality of life. So it is necessary to give information about falls in the aged and further study.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.676-684
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors for falls and to suggest data for developing a program for preventing falls. Methods: This was a case-control study in five university hospitals and a general hospital. In total, 216 patients over the age of 18 yr admitted from January 1 to December 31, 2007 participated. One hundred eight patients with experience of falling were matched by gender, age level, diagnosis, and length of stay with 108 patents with no experience of falling admitted on the same unit. A quality assurance coordinator nurse in each hospital examined 35 fall risk factors developed by researchers. Results: In acute hospitals, history of falls, orientation ability, dizziness or vertigo, general weakness, urination problems, transfer/mobility difficulty, walking dependency, impatience, benzodiazepines, diuretics, and vasodilators showed significance on adjusted-odds ratios for fall. Logistic regression analysis was performed to elucidate the factors that influence falls. The probability of falls was increased by dizziness/vertigo, general weakness, and impatience/agitation. Conclusion: This finding can be used as a useful resource in developing nursing intervention programs to predict and prevent the falls of inpatients.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.51-58
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• 2021

Purpose: This study is based on the results of previous studies that falls, which is a frequent social problem, causes physical, mental and social health problems in the elderly. In order to identify risk factors for falls in the elderly, this study derives a relationship with oral health and proposes the necessity of oral health care as part of countermeasures to prevent falls in the elderly. Methodology: The final 6,936 people were analysed using the 2018 Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing(KLoSA) survey data, and the analysis was conducted using the multiple logistic and multiple regression analysis to investigate the relationship between Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and falls experience. Findings: As a result of the analysis in this study, the number of falls experiences and whether or not falls were higher in the elderly female group than in the male group. The likelihood of falls experience has been statistically reduced as Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index increases by one unit.(OR : 0.991) The number of falls has also been statistically reduced as Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index increase by one unit.(B : -0.001) Practical Implications: The results of this study, which showed that higher Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index was lower risk of falls, explained by the connection that oral health may affect nutritional intake, which leads to sarcopenia and physical loss, which in turn increases the risk of falls. As a way to solve the fall problem, efforts should be made to improve the oral health of the elderly, and furthermore, the importance of nutrition management thorugh oral health care of the elderly is increasd.