@article{ref1,
title="The "Aachen fall prevention app" - a smartphone application app for the self-assessment of elderly patients at risk for ground level falls",
journal="Patient safety in surgery",
year="2017",
author="Rasche, Peter and Mertens, Alexander and Bröhl, Christina and Theis, Sabine and Seinsch, Tobias and Wille, Matthias and Pape, Hans-Christoph and Knobe, Matthias",
volume="11",
number="",
pages="e14-e14",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Fall incidents are a major problem for patients and healthcare. The &quot;Aachen Fall Prevention App&quot; (AFPA) represents the first mobile Health (mHealth) application (app) empowering older patients (persons 50+ years) to self-assess and monitor their individual fall risk. Self-assessment is based on the &quot;Aachen Fall Prevention Scale,&quot; which consists of three steps. First, patients answer ten standardized yes-no questions (positive criterion ≥ 5 &quot;Yes&quot; responses). Second, a ten-second test of free standing without compensatory movement is performed (positive criterion: compensatory movement). Finally, during the third step, patients rate their subjective fall risk on a 10-point Likert scale, based on the results of steps one and two. The purpose of this app is (1) to offer a low-threshold service through which individuals can independently monitor their individual fall risk and (2) to collect data about how a patient-centered mHealth app for fall risk assessment is used in the field. <br><br>RESULTS: The results represent the first year of an ongoing field study. From December 2015 to December 2016, 197 persons downloaded the AFPA (iOS(™) and Android(™); free of charge). N = 111 of these persons voluntarily shared their data and thereby participated in the field study. Data from a final number of n = 79 persons were analyzed due to exclusion criteria (age, missing objective fall risk, missing self-assessment). The objective fall risk and the self-assessed subjective risk measured by the AFPA showed a significant positive relationship. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The &quot;Aachen Fall Prevention App&quot; (AFPA) is an mHealth app released for iOS and Android. This field study revealed the AFPA as a promising tool to raise older adults' awareness of their individual fall risk by means of a low-threshold patient-driven fall risk assessment tool.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1754-9493",
doi="10.1186/s13037-017-0130-4",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13037-017-0130-4"
}