Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2016 , Vol 19, Issue 3
EVALUATION OF HOME ACCIDENTS AND FALL BEHAVIORS OF ELDERLY
Hande ÅžAHÄ°N1, Sibel ERKAL2
1Kırıkkale University, Department of Social Services, KIRIKKALE
2Hacettepe University, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, ANKARA
Introduction: This study was conducted to evaluate home accidents sustained by the elderly in previous year by using the questionnaire develop by the researcher and also evaluate the fall behavior of the elderly using the “falls behavioral scale” included 175 elderly residents in the Ovacı k district of Kırıkkale province, Turkey.

Materials and Method: The “Falls Behavioral Scale for the Elderly” was employed as the data collection tool. Data were analyzed using standard deviation, arithmetic mean, and the student's t-test to compare the two groups and analysis of variance to compare multiple groups.

Results: More than half of the elderly (59.4%) sustained home accidents in the previous year, and elderly who sustained fall accidents (70.2%) and those who sustained accidents in the kitchen (31.7%) ranked in first place. The mean score of the elderly' fall behavior was 2.85 points on a four-point scale. The falls behavior of the elderly indicated significant differences in terms of the type and place of accidents (p<0.05). When group averages were evaluated, the elderly that sustained cuts or home accidents in the kitchen had higher scores on the Falls Behavioral Scale compared with other groups.

Conclusion: The mean score on the Falls Behavioral Scale was higher for women, college graduates, have single child, and those living alone. Keywords : Aged; Accident, Home; Accidental Falls