TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - An occupational therapy fall reduction home visit program for community-dwelling older adults in Hong Kong after an emergency department visit for a fall
JO  - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
A1  - Chu, Mary Man-Lai
A1  - Fong, Kenneth Nai-Kuen
A1  - Lit, Albert Chau-Hung
A1  - Rainer, Timothy Hudson
A1  - Cheng, Stella Wai-Chee
A1  - Au, Frederick Lap-Yan
A1  - Fung, Henry Kwok-Kwong
A1  - Wong, Chit-Ming
A1  - Tong, Hon-Kuan
SP  - 364
EP  - 372
VL  - 65
IS  - 2
N2  - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of an occupational therapy fall reduction home visit program for older adults admitted to the emergency department (ED) for a fall and discharged directly home. <br><br>DESIGN: Single-blind, multicenter, randomized, controlled trial. SETTINGS: EDs in three acute care hospitals in Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 65 and older who had fallen (N = 311). INTERVENTIONS: After screening for eligibility, 204 consenting individuals were randomly assigned to an intervention group (IG) and received a single home visit from an occupational therapist (OT) within 2 weeks after discharge from the hospital or a control group (CG) and received a well-wishing visit from a research assistant not trained in fall prevention. MEASUREMENTS: Both groups were followed for 12 months through telephone calls made every 2 weeks by blinded assessors with a focus on the frequency of falls. Another blinded assessor followed up on their status with telephone calls 4, 8, and 12 months after ED discharge. Prospective fall records on hospital admissions were retrieved from electronic databases; 198 individuals were followed for 1 year on an intention-to-treat basis. <br><br>RESULTS: The percentage of fallers over 1 year was 13.7% in the IG (n = 95) and 20.4% in the CG (n = 103). There were significant differences in the number of fallers (P =.03) and the number of falls (P =.02) between the two groups over 6 months. Significant differences were found in survival analysis for first fall at 6 months (log-rank test 5.052, P =.02) but not 9 or 12 months. <br><br>CONCLUSION: One OT visit after a fall was more effective than a well-wishing visit at reducing future falls at 6 months. A booster OT visit at 6 months is suggested.<br><br>© 2016, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2016, The American Geriatrics Society.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-8614
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jgs.14527
ID  - ref1
ER  -