Practices and behaviors of professionals after falls in institutionalized elderly with and without cognitive decline

Baixinho, Cristina Lavareda; Dixe, Maria dos Anjos

doi:10.1590/1980-57642020dn14-010010

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

Dementia & Neuropsychologia

Español English

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

Original Article • Dement. neuropsychol. 14 (1) • Jan-Mar 2020 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-57642020dn14-010010 copy

Practices and behaviors of professionals after falls in institutionalized elderly with and without cognitive decline

PRÁTICAS E COMPORTAMENTOS DOS PROFISSIONAIS APÓS A QUEDA NOS IDOSOS INSTITUCIONALIZADOS COM E SEM DECLÍNIO COGNITIVO

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Falls are a major problem in nursing homes due to their high prevalence and impact on the functioning of elderly.

Objective:

This study aims to: a) construct and validate a scale for assessing the practices and behaviors of professionals from nursing homes after falls in elderly; b) describe practices and behaviors after falls; and c) associate practices and behaviors with professionals’ length of experience, training and age.

Methods:

This is a correlational study, conducted in a sample of 152 professionals from six nursing homes. The study adhered to all of the Declaration of Helsinki principles.

Results:

The scale constructed has a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.938. The 12 items of the scale are grouped into two factors. The most expressive indicators are the communication of fall episodes that result in severe injuries (4.64 ± 0.812) and the communication of falls that result in injuries and need intervention from health technicians (4.61 ± 0.832). We found no significant statistical difference between length of professional experience, training and age when associated with professional practices and behaviors after falls in elderly (p > 0.05).

Conclusion:

Future studies should investigate the association of post-fall professional practices and behaviors with fear of another fall, fall recurrence, and changes in functioning of the elderly following a fall.

Key words:
accidental falls; elderly; caregivers; home for the aged; cognitive dysfunction; psychometrics

Number and content of items	Pearson's item-total correlation without the item itself	Cronbach's α without the item itself
1. I try to determine the causes of the fall	.607	.937
2. I try to determine what the person was doing at the time of the fall	.676	.935
3. I increase supervision for the elderly	.752	.932
4. I check if the elderly person is afraid of falling again	.669	.935
5. I record the fall episode in the incident book	.857	.928
6. I report how the fall happened in the incident book	.860	.928
7. I record the time of the fall	.734	.933
8. I describe the injuries resulting from the fall in the incident book	.877	.927
9. I communicate to health technicians falls that did not cause injuries	.665	.936
10. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in injuries that need little or no care	.649	.936
11. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in injuries that need intervention	.723	.933
12. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in fractures and loss of consciousness	.668	.935
Total Cronbach's a	0.938

Number and content of items	H2	F1	F2
1. I try to determine the causes of the fall	.614	.774
2. I try to determine what the person was doing at the time of the fall	.654	.781
3. I increase supervision for the elderly	.651	.661
4. I check if the elderly person is afraid of falling again	.582	.707
5. I record the fall episode in the incident book	.814	.757
6. I report how the fall happened in the incident book	.810	.753
7. I record the time of the fall	.633	.680
8. I describe the injuries resulting from the fall in the incident book	.836	.753
9. I communicate to health technicians falls that did not cause injuries	.657		.756
10. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in injuries that need little or no care	.684		.793
11. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in injuries that need intervention	.796		.846
12. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in fractures and loss of consciousness	.626		.707
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure	.900
Bartlett's test of sphericity	1575.105; p < .001

Number and content of items	Mean	SD
1. I try to determine the causes of the fall	4.53	.769
2. I try to determine what the person was doing at the time of the fall	4.45	.828
3. I increase supervision for the elderly	4.50	.824
4. I check if the elderly person is afraid of falling again	4.32	.926
5. I record the fall episode in the incident book	4.54	.936
6. I report how the fall happened in the incident book	4.50	.916
7. I record the time of the fall	4.35	1.111
8. I describe the injuries resulting from the fall in the incident book	4.53	.951
9. I communicate to health technicians falls that did not cause injuries	4.22	1.079
10. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in injuries that need little or no care	4.32	0.892
11. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in injuries that need intervention	4.61	0.832
12. I communicate to health technicians falls resulting in fractures and loss of consciousness	4.64	0.812
Total (12-60)	53.51	10.87
Factor 1 - activities performed after a fall episode	35.72	7.26
Factor 2 - communication to health technicians of the institution	17.79	3.61

Academia Brasileira de Neurologia, Departamento de Neurologia Cognitiva e Envelhecimento R. Vergueiro, 1353 sl.1404 - Ed. Top Towers Offices, Torre Norte, São Paulo, SP, Brazil, CEP 04101-000, Tel.: +55 11 5084-9463 | +55 11 5083-3876 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revistadementia@abneuro.org.br | demneuropsy@uol.com.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Cristina Lavareda Baixinho. Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa – Avenida Professor Egas Moniz – 1600-190 Lisboa – Portugal. E-mail: crbaixinho@esel.pt.