BACKGROUND: In a randomized controlled trial testing a home safety program designed to prevent falls in older people with severe visual impairment, it was shown that the program, delivered by an experienced occupational therapist, significantly reduced the numbers of falls both at home and away from home. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether the success of the home safety assessment and modification intervention in reducing falls resulted directly from modification of home hazards or from behavioral modifications, or both. METHODS:Participants were 391 community living women and men aged 75 years and older with visual acuity 6/24 meters or worse; 92% (361 of 391) completed one year of follow up. Main outcome measures were type and number of hazards and risky behavior identified in the home and garden of those receiving the home safety program, compliance with home safety recommendations reported at six months, location of all falls for all study participants during the trial, and environmental hazards associated with each fall. RESULTS: The numbers of falls at home related to an environmental hazard and those with no hazard involved were both reduced by the home safety program (n = 100 participants) compared with the group receiving social visits (n = 96) (incidence rate ratios = 0.40 (95% confidence interval, 0.21 to 0.74) and 0.43 (0.21 to 0.90), respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The overall reduction in falls by the home safety program must result from some mechanism in addition to the removal or modification of hazards or provision of new equipment.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: In a randomized controlled trial testing a home safety program designed to prevent falls in older people with severe visual impairment, it was shown that the program, delivered by an experienced occupational therapist, significantly reduced the numbers of falls both at home and away from home. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether the success of the home safety assessment and modification intervention in reducing falls resulted directly from modification of home hazards or from behavioral modifications, or both. METHODS:Participants were 391 community living women and men aged 75 years and older with visual acuity 6/24 meters or worse; 92% (361 of 391) completed one year of follow up. Main outcome measures were type and number of hazards and risky behavior identified in the home and garden of those receiving the home safety program, compliance with home safety recommendations reported at six months, location of all falls for all study participants during the trial, and environmental hazards associated with each fall. RESULTS: The numbers of falls at home related to an environmental hazard and those with no hazard involved were both reduced by the home safety program (n = 100 participants) compared with the group receiving social visits (n = 96) (incidence rate ratios = 0.40 (95% confidence interval, 0.21 to 0.74) and 0.43 (0.21 to 0.90), respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The overall reduction in falls by the home safety program must result from some mechanism in addition to the removal or modification of hazards or provision of new equipment.
Authors: A John Campbell; M Clare Robertson; Steven J La Grow; Ngaire M Kerse; Gordon F Sanderson; Robert J Jacobs; Dianne M Sharp; Leigh A Hale Journal: BMJ Date: 2005-09-23
Authors: D M Buchner; M C Hornbrook; N G Kutner; M E Tinetti; M G Ory; C D Mulrow; K B Schechtman; M B Gerety; M A Fiatarone; S L Wolf Journal: J Am Geriatr Soc Date: 1993-03 Impact factor: 5.562
Authors: Anne L Coleman; Katie Stone; Susan K Ewing; Michael Nevitt; Steven Cummings; Jane A Cauley; Kristine E Ensrud; Emily L Harris; Marc C Hochberg; Carol M Mangione Journal: Ophthalmology Date: 2004-05 Impact factor: 12.079
Authors: Samantha Turner; Geri Arthur; Ronan A Lyons; Alison L Weightman; Mala K Mann; Sarah J Jones; Ann John; Simon Lannon Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2011-02-16
Authors: Lesley D Gillespie; M Clare Robertson; William J Gillespie; Catherine Sherrington; Simon Gates; Lindy M Clemson; Sarah E Lamb Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2012-09-12
Authors: Evan Mayo-Wilson; Sean Grant; Jennifer Burton; Amanda Parsons; Kristen Underhill; Paul Montgomery Journal: PLoS One Date: 2014-03-12 Impact factor: 3.240