Risk assessment and development of policy recommendations for fall prevention for the elderly in the community

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess potential risks and develop policy recommendations for fall prevention among the elderly in the community. It was a quantitative and qualitative mixed method research, conducted at Non Somboon village, Khon Kaen province between 1 October 2019 and 31 March 2020. The quantitative part used a cross-sectional survey for elderly risk assessment among 393 elderly people in the community. The qualitative part using focus group discussion on public policy for elderly fall prevention in community was conducted with the purposive sample stakeholders from sub-district administration organization and Sirindhorn Hospital (family medicine doctor, nurse, and health personnel).The results revealed that 32.3% of the elderly people had fallen twice in the past 6 months and 38.4% of the elderly had high score of fall risk assessment (with scores ranging from 4-11), while 61.6 % of them had low risk score (score <4 ). Marital status, underlying medical conditions, floor surface, visual acuity, body balance, and medication intake were found to be associated with the elderly fall with statistical significance (p-value < 0.05), thus leading to the development of these policy recommendations. It is therefore recommended that fall risk assessments should be included in health assessment for the elderly at every 6-month interval and plan to solve problems with multidisciplinary team involved in care, prevention and assistance for the elderly both with and without disabilities to reduce the risk of fall. The multidisciplinary team should be involved in community environment survey in order to improve the high-risk points in public spaces in addition to household survey. The sub-district administration organization and related agencies should have the plan in place for resources management to prevent and solve problems systematically, including capacity building, knowledge, human resources, and budgets. Furthermore, they should support the existing mechanism of the district health board committee in setting policy and strategic plan for prevention and solving problems of aged society in the future.