Home Safety, Quality of Life, Fall, and Fear of Falling Among Older Home Care Recipients

Background and Purpose: Fear of falling is the worry that appears with the fall, and it is quite commonly seen in older adults. The aim of the study was to detect the fear of falling and related factors in older persons who are receiving home care services provided by Bornova Municipality. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 386 individuals older than 60 years. The data were collected via face-to-face interviews by a questionnaire form, May-October, 2018. The fear of falling was measured by The Falls of Efficacy Scale-International. In addition, a questionnaire to collect sociodemographic data, retrospective history of falls, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, EuroQol-5D, and Home Security Control List was used. Results: The mean age of the sample was 77.66 ± 7.59 years and females constituted 74.6% of them. Of the participants, 74.1% were detected to have fear of falling. The logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between the fear of falling and fall history, quality of life, and health status visual analog scale scores. Conclusion: It can be argued that the fear of falling is higher in the individuals who have a past experience of falling and the individuals who have a low quality of life. The older adults who have falls history should be determined as a risk group and protective measures should be applied to enhance their life quality.