Document Type
Capstone
Abstract
Older adult falls ages sixty-five and older are a major health concern in the United States of America. This project is an educational in-service provided through a power point presentation designed to educate community dwelling older adults on areas in their home that could increase their chance of falling in their home environment. This will be accomplished by using components of the home safety-self assessment tool. There are three main objectives which include: educating community dwelling older adults on various areas in the home that could lead to an increased risk of falls, suggest possible solutions, assistive devices, helpful products, and specific durable medical equipment that can be used in the home to decrease their risk of falls while performing their daily occupations. A pre-survey of twelve questions was given in order to obtain information regarding: how safe these individuals feel in their home, have they considered making any changes in their home to reduce the risk of falls, how many areas in their home do they believe could lead to a fall, and how many potential hazards could there be in various areas of the home that could lead to an increased risk of falls. After the educational in-service was presented a post-survey was given to determine: how beneficial the in-service was, how many areas in their home do they believe could lead to a fall, how many potential hazards could there be in various areas of the home that could lead to an increased risk of falls, and after the in-service would they consider implementing the recommendations suggest via the educational in-service. Results indicated that through the use of components of the home safety-self assessment tool, community dwelling older adults can identify areas in their home that can increase their risk of falls, identify possible solutions, assistive devices, helpful products and durable medical equipment that can reduce the risk of falls while performing their daily occupations. In conclusion, the overall project was found to be beneficial for community dwelling older adults in identifying areas in the home that can increase the risk of falls through components of the home safety-self assessment tool.
Publication Date
4-15-2019
Recommended Citation
Mack, Brooke, "The Use of the Home Safety Self-Assessment Tool to Decrease the Risk of Falls in Community Dwelling Older Adults" (2019). MOT Student Capstones. 48.
https://riches.cabarruscollege.edu/mot-student-capstones/48
