Relation of falls efficacy scale (FES) to quality of life among nursing home female residents with comparatively intact cognitive function in Japan.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation of the Falls Efficacy Scale (FES) to quality of life (QOL) among nursing home residents. The subjects were 133 institutionalized women aged 70 years or older. They had comparatively intact cognitive function, with a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 15 or more, and could provide sufficient informed consent for a questionnaire survey. We evaluated their age, height, weight, body-mass index, history of hip fracture, history of fall(s) within the past year, complicating conditions, MMSE, Medical Outcomes Study 8-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-8), FES, and their subscores for Functional Independence Measure (FIM) motor items (self care, sphincter control, transfer, locomotion). There was a significant relationship between the Physical Component Summary (PCS) of SF-8 and FES. In each subscale, FES showed significant relations that were especially close in physical functioning (PF) and role physical (RP), with those relations proving stronger than those of the subscores of transfer and locomotion. In conclusion, the present results suggested that taking account of mental confidence is important for physical QOL, and that falls self-efficacy, including not only physical activity per se but also mental confidence, should be given prominence in the physical QOL of the institutionalized elderly.