Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Selçuk Üniversitesi Sağlık Yüksekokulu, Konya
Hacettepe Ãœniversitesi HemÅŸirelik Yüksekokulu Halk SaÄŸlığı HemÅŸireliÄŸi A.B.D., Ankara The loss of mobility occurs earlier than the dependency in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in the elderly living home, also, it is progressive and a prevalent problem. The aims of this study are to examine mobility related disability, influencing factors and associated problems in the elderly living home. This is a descriptive study. Two hundred and forty five elderly (65+) person included in the study. Rivermaid Mobility Index (RMI) and Brief Disability Questionnaire (BDQ) were used to assess mobility related and physical-social disability, respectively. X2, fisher exact tests, Mann Whitney U and One-Way Anova tests were used for the associations between mobility related disability and some characteristics. 68.6 % of the study population have mobility related disability. It has been found that age, gender, education, marital status, living alone, having continuous income, postural hypotension, having chronic conditions, number of chronic conditions, and also hypertension, hearth failure, osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, hearing impairment, use medication, number of drugs used and using antihypertensives were associated with mobility-related disability, whilst having care provider, health insurance, dyspnea, bronchitis, chronic joint and back pain, diabetes, visual impairment and using diuretic were not. The elders who have mobility-related disability were more physically and socially disabled, but those who have mobility score (RMI) between 10-14 were less physically and socially disabled. Based on these findings, it has been said that measures of mobility-related disability and considering risk factors may serve to prevention efforts for mobility-related disability and also physical-social disability. So, it has been suggested that RMI may be used by nurses in the observation of elderly populations and emphasized that nurses will have opportunity for recognizing mobility related disability at early stage and considering risk factors. In this way, it’s possible to prevent disabilities. Keywords : Community-dwelling elders, disability, mobility, risk factors, preventive care