• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.282-293
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• 2012

Purpose: The study aimed to examine the effects of Tai Chi fall prevention program on risk factors for fall, fear of falling, and quality of life among elderly women living in the community. Methods: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with non-equivalent control group was used. Sixty participants were recruited from 4 senior citizen centers in a city. The 1-hour Tai Chi fall prevention program was provided three times a week for 6 months to the experimental group. Risk factors for fall including fracture risk and bone mineral density, fear of falling, and quality of life were measured at the baseline and at 6 months. Results: Participants were 75 years old in average. At the completion of 6 month program, the experimental group showed lower fracture risks, less fear of falling, and higher scores in several domains of quality of life than the control group, after controlling for the pretest scores, fall experience, and regular exercise habit. Conclusion: The Tai Chi fall prevention program was safely applied to elderly women with improvement in fracture risk, fear of falling, and several domains of quality of life. Future study is necessary to confirm the longer effect of the Tai Chi program for the prevention of fall episodes.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2010

The Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) was developed and widely used as a clinical tool to assess balance performance during gait. The purpose of this study was to validate the Korean translated DGI using Rasch analysis. A total of 105 community-dwelling elderly was participated in this study (age range = 65~95 years; mean = 78.0 years). The translated DGI showed sound item psychometric properties, and the 8 items were arranged in order of difficulty for the total participants. The most difficult item was 'Steps' and the easiest item was 'Level surface'. Also, each of the original 4 rating scale categories satisfied the Linacre's essential criteria suggestions for optimal rating scale category effectiveness. Although, thirty eight person (36.2%) showed the maximal high score, but the most of them was no history of fall in the preceding year. For subjects who has falling history, all of the person's ability was arranged within the item's difficulty. The 8-item Korean translated DGI can be used to measure gain in elderly person with balance disorders without compromising important clinical measurement characteristics in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.61-71
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• 2017

PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of whole body vibration exercise on balance, muscle strength and falls efficacy in the elderly. METHODS: In this blinded randomized allocation study, 27 elderly were assigned to a whole-body vibration exercise group (n=14), consisting of 25 min structured exercises for 2 days per week for 6 weeks and a control group (n=13) performing the same program without vibration. At baseline and after the 6-week intervention, balance was measured using the Korean version of the Berg balance scale (K-BBS), timed up and go (TUG) test and functional reach test (FRT). Muscle strength was determined using the 30-s chair stand test (CST). Fear of falling was assessed using the Korean version of falls efficacy scale (K-FES). Paired t-test and independent t-test were used for within and between group comparisons, respectively. RESULTS: After the intervention, the experimental group showed significantly higher changes in all the parameters (K-BBS score, TUG test, CST, K-FES score) (p<.05) compared with the control group. However, there was no significant change in all parameters in the control group (p>.05). CONCLUSION: The whole-body vibration exercise program may be helpful to improve balance, mobility, muscle performance and fear of falling in the elderly.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.96-104
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• 2018

Purpose: This study compared factors related to fear of falling among women in the early phase of old age based on hand grip strength. Methods: Researchers obtained data of 1,071 women who had participated in the 4th Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Results: In both groups, fear of falling was positively correlated with falling experience within two years, osteoarthritis-related leg pain, depression, and instrumental daily life abilities; however, self-rated health was negatively correlated. In the low hand grip strength group, self-rated health, osteoarthritis-related leg pain, and hand grip strength accounted for 21.3% of the variance regarding fear of falling. In the normal hand grip strength group, age, self-rated health, fall experience within two years, osteoarthritis-related leg pain, and depression significantly accounted for 16.6% of the variance regarding fear of falling. Conclusion: In applying interventions to prevent falling in women in the early phase of old age, health care workers must verify if women have low hand grip strength and determine whether to focus on fitness improvement through exercise interventions or consider psychological interventions for depression.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.391-404
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of interventional studies to prevent falling in elderly with dementia and to determine the contents and effectiveness of intervention programs to prevent falling. Existing reports published between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2016 were searched electronically using the RISS, National Library, KISS, PubMed, and CINAHL database with the keywords dementia, Alzheimer's or Alzheimer's disease, falling, and prevention of falling. After checking the original sources of the articles, 13 articles were included in the review. Therapeutic interventions used in the articles included exercise therapy (8, 61.5%), physiotherapy and occupational therapy (2, 15.4%), complementary therapies (2, 15.4%), and music therapy (1, 7.7%). As a result of the qualitative evaluation of the papers using a checklist of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network, two studies scored 9 out of 10 points, five studies scored 8 out of 10, and six studies scored 7 out of 10. Intervention sessions were conducted for 55 minutes, on average, for a total of 37 sessions. This study found that exercise, music therapy, physical and occupational therapy, and rhythmic motion therapy were effective in preventing falling in the elderly with dementia. In the future, these findings are expected to be used as a basis for the development of a preventive intervention program for nurses in a clinical setting.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was to analyze clinical and epidemiological characteristics of elderly patients who were admitted to the emergency department (ED) due to falls by separating male and female. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the fall patients aged 65 years or older from the data of the in-depth surveillance study of injured patients visit to the ED under the supervision of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) from 2011 to 2016 by separating male and female. Results: A total of 361,588 elderly fall patients were analyzed and, among them, 14,429 (37.3%) were males and 24,208 (62.7%) were females. Male and female showed similar frequency of damage happening season. However, they showed falling accident mostly on winter. The time of injury occurrence is mostly from 12:00 to 18:00 with 4,949 (34.3%) male and 8,564 (35.4%) female. Most falls occurred in daily activities, accounting for 7,614 (52.8%) in males and 14,957 (61.8%) in females, respectively. Unintentional damage accounted for the most part and 7,395 (51.2%) of male and 15,343 (63.4%) of female were injured indoors. Head and neck were the most common site of injuring, with 8,392 (58.2%) in males and 7,851 (32.4%) in females. According to ED examination outcomes, most of the patients were discharged, while the majority of the hospitalized patients were admitted to the general patient room. Conclusions: The elderly falls occurred mostly from 12:00 to 18:00, during winter and to elderly women. Also, they happened unintentionally indoors in everyday life, mostly. Proved clinical, epidemiological characteristics from this research will be used as useful indicator at validity research of development of prevent program of falling accident for elderly people.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.432-440
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• 2003

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to examine 1) functional status at 2 months after hip fracture surgery 2) health care utilization after a fall episode and 3) fear of falling experienced during first 2 months after a fall episode. Method: With a convenient sample of 99 elderly from six university or general hospitals with hip fracture from a fall, data were collected at 2-3 days before discharge and at 2 months after hip fracture surgery. Result: 1) At 2 months after hip fracture from a fall, significant proportion (25.3%) of elderly was not able to walk indoors. 2) Average length of hospital stay was 27.6 days with a range of 8 to 86 days. About 51% subjects received physical therapy during hospital stay, and only 6.1% subjects received physical therapy following discharge from the hospital. 3) Significant proportion (72.7%) had fear of falling after the fall episode. About 51% reported that they restricted their activities because they had fear of falling. Conclusion: Fall is a dreaded event which result in loss of independence and restriction of activity. Development and application of fall prevention program is critical especially for those with risk factors of fall.

• Journal of Korean Living Environment System
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.360-367
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• 2017

Although the elderly collecting and selling wastepaper is one of the most vulnerable groups in society, this group has not been studied specifically. Subjective health status is an important aspect of quality of life in old age. The purpose of this study is to examine factors affecting subjective health status among the elderly collecting and selling wastepaper. Analyses are based on data from 2014 Korean Elderly Survey. Multiple regression analysis showed that gender, depression, and fear of falling were associated with subjective health status. The results of this study suggest that gender and mental health aspects should be considered in making intervention plan for assessments and providing services for health among the elderly collecting and selling wastepaper. The study findings also indicate that efforts to improve safety in worksite of elderly persons collecting and selling wastepaper are needed.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.21-32
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• 2014

This research intends to discover the housing conditions of the elderly in rural area in South Korea, and identify measures to improve the conditions for an independent and safe life of seniors. This research conducted both survey research and experimental study. The survey interviewed 1,000 elderly people over 65 in farming areas across the country based on random selection from Census 2010 and sampling by regional size and administrative unit (Eup, Myeon, Li) to reflect the regional characteristics more accurately. The data was analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. The experimental study identified the housing elements that may threaten the life of seniors based on a complete survey on households of elderly people over 65 in a selected typical rural village. As a result, the most inconvenient and threatening factor in the housing facilities appears to be the floor level difference. It was identified that most houses had the risk of falling due to the differences of the floor level between indoor and outdoor, and slippery floor materials. The squat toilets also bring inconvenience not only to the seniors with limited mobility but also to healthy elderly people. In particular, as most bathroom doors opened inward, it may be difficult to escape from or rescue someone in an emergency of falling, fainting or exhaustion.