Problems and Obstacles of Fall Prevention in the Elderly from Healthcare Personnel Perspectives
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Abstract
This study aimed to explore the problems and obstacles of fall prevention in the elderly from healthcare personnel perspectives, using secondary data from the research project “Family Support for Fall Prevention in Older Adults with Mobility Problems.” The original research was a qualitative study employing a phenomenological approach.
The data used in this study were part of the interview data from the group of healthcare professionals in the aforementioned research project. Key informants were professionals in geriatric care and related fields, who had at least one year of work experience and voluntarily consented to participate in the study. Purposive sampling was used to select participants who met the specified criteria. Data were collected through in-depth interviews combined with observation between January 2018 and March 2019, and continued until data saturation was reached, resulting in a total of 10 participants. The research tools included an interview guide and an observation form. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data in order to answer the above objective.
The results showed that the problems and obstacles in fall prevention among the elderly, as perceived by healthcare personnel, could be categorized into four main dimensions: (1) Elderly Dimension: (a) physical and health limitations of the elderly, (b) cognitive limitations, (c) misconceptions and incorrect beliefs, and (d) fear of falling; (2) Family Dimension: (a) lack of family involvement, and (b) misconceptions and incorrect beliefs within the family; (3) Community Dimension: (a) limited budgets and resources of local administrative organizations, and (b) lack of collaboration among community stakeholders; and (4) Healthcare Personnel Dimension: (a) inadequate support for the healthcare workforce, and (b) insufficient budgetary support.
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