Citation

Klima DW, Newton RA, Keshner EA, Davey A. J. Aging Phys. Act. 2013; 21(4): 375-386.

Affiliation

Department of Physical Therapy, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

23170754

Abstract

Studies examining fear of falling among older adult men remain limited. The objectives of this study were to compare balance confidence in two age cohorts of older clergy and identify predictive determinants of balance confidence in a liturgical research initiative. Participants included 131 community-dwelling Roman Catholic priests aged 60-97 years living in religious communities in 10 Mid-Atlantic states. Subjects completed the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go (TUG) Test, and 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Younger priests (60-74 years) demonstrated a significantly higher ABC score than the older cohort (75 and above years) of priests (89.1± 12.6 vs.78.4 ± 13.9, p =0.001). Confidence was significantly correlated with BBS (rho=0.69; p<0.01), TUG (r= -0.58; p<0.01), and GDS (r=-0.39; p<0.01) scores. A stepwise regression model demonstrated that balance ability, mood, assistive device use, and physical activity predicted 52% of the variance in balance confidence.

Language: en