• 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 agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.243-256
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• 2013

Objectives: This study was to investigate fear of falling and related factors in elderly living alone based on fall experience. Methods: Participants were 404 elderly women(faller=148, non-faller=256) over 65 years who were homebound living alone in Jeollanam-do Province. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using questionnaires from April $23^{th}$ to June $9^{th}$ 2013. The questionnaires consisted of demographic variables, fall experience, Fear of falling questionnaire(FOFQ), Falls Efficacy Scale(FES) and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression(CES-D). The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS version 14.0. Results: The fear of falling and the influential factors were different according to fall experience. Regression model for fear of falling in fallers significantly accounted for 46.1%(F=6.71, p<0.001); difficulty of performing activity, depression, fall-efficacy, static balance and assistive devices. Regression model for fear of falling in non-fallers significantly accounted for 55.2%(F=15.16, p<0.001); fall-efficacy, environmental hazards, difficulty of performing activity, risk of nutrition, housing type, dizziness and assistive devices. Conclusion: Results demonstrate that fall is an important health problem for elderly women living alone, and show fall experience for factors influencing fear of falling. These results could be used in the developing fall prevention programs.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.122-131
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors related to fear of falling (FOF) in different age groups from community-dwelling mid to late-adults. Methods: To identify the factors related to FOF, data of 162,684 adults over 45 years of age from 2019 Community Health Survey was analyzed using logistic regression with complex samples. Results: Factors related to FOF found in all age groups were sex, previous experience of falls, physical activity levels over moderate intensity, subjective health status, number of chronic diseases, stress, depression, and cognitive decline. In the 45-64 age group, the FOF was significantly higher in the groups of low education level and low monthly household income. In the 65-74 and over 75 age groups, the FOF was significantly higher in the groups of not living with spouse and walking not practiced. Conclusion: We suggests that understanding of risk factors and early detection of fall risk patients in each age group are necessary to establish and apply tailored fall prevention programs for prevention and management of the FOF in community-dwelling mid to late-adults.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.810-818
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was done to explore factors relating to number of falls among community-dwelling elders, based on gender. Methods: Participants were 403 older community dwellers (male=206, female=197) aged 60 or above. In this study, 8 variables were identified as predictive factors that can result in an elderly person falling and as such, supports previous studies. The 8 variables were categorized as, exogenous variables; perceived health status, somatization, depression, physical performance, and cognitive state, and endogenous variables; fear of falling, ADL & IADL and frequency of falls. Results: For men, ability to perform ADL & IADL (${\beta}_{32}$=1.84, p<.001) accounted for 16% of the variance in the number of falls. For women, fear of falling (${\beta}_{31}$=0.14, p<.05) and ability to perform ADL & IADL (${\beta}_{32}$=1.01, p<.001) significantly contributed to the number of falls, accounting for 15% of the variance in the number of falls. Conclusion: The findings from this study confirm the gender-based fall prediction model as comprehensive in relation to community-dwelling elders. The fall prediction model can effectively contribute to future studies in developing fall prediction and intervention programs.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was to determine whether the Sun-style 24 forms of Tai Chi exercise improve pain, stiffness, disability, knee joint motion, mobility, balance or falling. Method: Forty-six community-dwelling elderly subjects (mean age, $75.46{\pm}6.28$) voluntarily participated in an intervention group of either 24 forms of Sun-style T ai Chi for 60 min, 2 times per week for 12 weeks or a control group. A non-equivalent pretest-posttest design was used. Independent t-test and ANCOVA were used to examine group differences by using SPSS12.0. Result: The experimental group had significantly less pain (F=7.60, p=.008) and stiffness (t=-3.19, p=.003) than the control group. Also there were significant improvements in knee joint motion on the right knee (t=2.44, p=.019), left knee (t=2.30, p=.026), rising time (F=8.03, p=.07), balance on the left single leg test (t=2.20, p=.033), and fear of falling (t=-2.33, p=.024) in the Tai Chi exercise group. No significant group differences were found in disability and falls efficacy. Conclusion: The Sun-style 24 forms Tai Chi exercise is effective in decreasing pain, stiffness, fear of falling and it improves balance, rising time, and knee joint motion. We suggest a continuing long term intervention to decrease disability and increase efficacy concerning falls.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.131-141
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the change of study variables (knowledge, efficacy, and fatigue) related to using orthosis and fear of falling in fracture patients wearing the leg orthosis after fall prevention education in terms of educational method and frequency. Methods: Participants were 87 fracture patients wearing the leg orthosis. Experimental I group (n=30) and experimental II group (n=27) received the fall prevention education once and three times respectively with leaflets. Experimental III group (n=30) received video training once. Results: The level of the subjects' knowledge was significantly increased in experimental I and II groups rather than in experimental III group. In case of experimental I and experimental II group, fear of falling was decreased when compared to experimental III group. However, there were no significant changes in efficacy and fatigue related to using orthosis among three groups. Conclusion: The fall prevention education using leaflets was more effective than video training method. Only one education with leaflets was effective enough. Therefore, it is recommended that the education with leaflets or pamphlets should be developed systematically according to the characteristics of fracture patients wearing the leg orthosis.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.207-214
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• 2016

Objectives: This study was conducted to identify the effects of the Qi-gong Exercise program on the physical health status, the fear of falling, balance efficacy, and Hwa-Byung in the elderly. Methods: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used in 52 elderly subjects who were assigned to the experimental group and the control group (26 subjects in each group). Study out-comes were measured by structured questionnaires from July 2015 to October 2015. For data analysis, the Chi-square test, the Fisher's exact probability test, the Mann-Whitney U test, the paired t-test, and the Wilcoxon signed rank test were performed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: There were significant differences in the physical health status (Z=12.000, p<.001), balance efficacy (Z=60.500, p=<.001), and Hwa-Byung (Z=20.500, p=<.001) between the two groups in pretest and posttest. Conclusions: The findings confirmed that the Qi-gong Exercise program is effective in improving the physical health status, balance efficacy, and Hwa-Byung in the elderly subjects in the community. It can be recommended as a public health program for the elderly population in the community.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.89-99
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• 2020

Objective: This study aimed to report the relationship between walking activity and perceived physical activity barriers after classifying the age group(≤64, 65-74, ≥75). Methods: The subjects were conducted on 1500 residents of two areas, and the walking activity was defined as five or more times a week, 10 minutes or more at a time, and 30 minutes or more per day. Perceived physical activity barriers were lack of time, lack of social support, lack of energy, lack of willpower, and fear of falling. Results: In the group under 64 year, the lack of time (exp(B)=0.819, p=0.002) and the lack of willpower (exp(B)=0.656, p<0.001) were significantly associated. In the 65-74 year old group, the lack of willpower (exp(B)=0.714, p<0.001) and fear of falling (exp(B)=0.787, p=0.003) were a significant association. In the group aged 75 years and over, lack ofwill power (exp(B)=0.734, p<0.001) and fear of falling (exp(B)=0.807, p=0.003) were significantly associated. Conclusion: In order to solve the lack of willpower and lack of time, a walking activity should be performed together at a certain time in the village, and the elderly in the late ages should reduce the fear of falling by performing a fall prevention exercise in parallel.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2021

Purpose : Few studies have examined the relationship between elderly falls and quality of life (QOL) in a large general population. Furthermore, although many studies have investigated the relationships between socio-demographic factors and falls, relatively few studies have evaluated the associations of places and environments with QOL of fall. The purpose of the scheme was to identify the relationship between falls and QOL in a large sample of the elderly. Methods : This study used raw data from the 2013 Korean community health survey. A total of 228,781 people participated in the 2013 study among them 61.552 people were aged 65 or older. Authors also excluded 40 people whose QOL confirmation was unclear. Therefore, final analysis was conducted 61,512 senior citizens. The survey contained questions about the occurrence of falls, number of falls occurring per year, location of occurrence, and cause of falls. QOL was measured using the EQ-5D, an evaluation tool developed by the EuroQol group. Results : The results showed a statistically significantly lower QOL to little fear and full of fear as compared with no fear of falls (p<.05). The number of falls was statistically significantly lower in one, two, and three or more times, than in zero (i.e. no falls)(p<.05). In the falling environments, fall experience, but not related to lighting (p>.05), had a significant lower in QOL compared without the experience (p<.05). Conclusion : This study concluded that there is a strong connection between fall and QOL to the elderly, particularly regarding the number of occurrences, place, and environment. However, we found that an environment (e.g. the lack of lighting) might not affect QOL. It means that when the experts who make an effective tool or intervention may not need to consider indoor and outdoor darkness.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.291-301
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate homebound status and significant related factors for community-dwelling female elders according to age. Methods: The participants were female elders over 65 years of age registered in public health centers. Data were collected by interviewing the elders, who voluntarily completed the entire survey. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression were performed using SPSS version 18.0. Results: There were statistically significant differences in homeboundness and related factors between the young-old (65 to 74 years of age) and the old-old (75 years of age or older). The level of homeboundness of the old-old was higher than that of the young-old. Multiple logistic regression showed, timed "up and go", depression, and fear of falling as significantly associated with homebound status of the young-old, while hand grip strength (right), timed "up and go", static balance ability, severity of urinary incontinence, and fear of falling as significant for the old-old. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that homebound status and related factors for elders are different according to age, and therefore, interventions to prevent and help homebound elders get over being homebound should be developed according to age.