Citation

Mihaljcic T, Haines TP, Ponsford JL, Stolwyk RJ. Arch. Gerontol. Geriatr. 2016; 69: 38-44.

Affiliation

School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia. Electronic address: Rene.Stolwyk@monash.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.archger.2016.11.003

PMID

27886565

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate whether self-awareness of falls risk is associated with rehabilitation engagement, motivation for rehabilitation, and number of falls after hospital discharge. The sample comprised 91 older adults (Mage=77.97, SD=8.04) undergoing inpatient rehabilitation. The Self-Awareness of Falls Risk Measure (SAFRM) was used to measure different aspects of self-awareness. The treating physiotherapist and occupational therapist rated the patient's engagement in rehabilitation and the patient reported his/her motivation for treatment. Falls information was collected from the patient and significant other once a month for three months following hospital discharge. Significant correlations were found between physiotherapist-rated engagement and intellectual (rs=-0.22, p<0.05) and anticipatory awareness (rs=-0.24, p<0.05). Occupational therapist-rated engagement and patient-reported motivation for rehabilitation was correlated with emergent awareness (rs=-0.38 and -0.31, p<0.05, respectively) and overall self-awareness (rs=-0.31 and -0.26, p<0.05, respectively). Regression analyses indicated that overall self-awareness provided a unique contribution to occupational therapist-rated engagement when controlling for age, gender, cognition and functional ability. Falls were reported by 29.9% of participants, however, self-awareness did not differ significantly between fallers and non-fallers. The findings suggest that self-awareness of falls risk is associated with rehabilitation engagement and motivation. Therefore, improving patient self-awareness of falls risk may increase engagement in therapy leading to better patient outcomes.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en