Article

PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of falls intervention programmes on
participation of older adults returning home to live, following discharge from
hospital. METHOD: A systematic review of peer-reviewed articles and grey
literature was completed. Limits were set for articles published in English,
dated 1990-2012. Inclusion criteria included randomised control trials with older
adults (>/=65 years) that used an effective falls intervention and a
participation measure, following discharge from hospital or emergency department.
Two independent researchers assessed the studies for eligibility. Research risk
of bias was evaluated using the PEDro scale (range 1-10). A meta-analysis of the
selected articles was completed. RESULTS: Five studies fulfilled the inclusion
criteria and measured participation outcomes short-term (<six months
post-discharge, n = 488) and long-term (6-12 months post-discharge, n = 571). The
results indicated that falls interventions provided a positive improvement in
patients' participation level (p = 0.042, p = 0.026).
However, the effect size
was small at 0.20 and 0.21. CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis findings indicate that
there is a causal association between falls interventions and participation in
daily occupations with older adults post-discharge. Although the effect size was
small, practice implications of this study suggest that participation needs to be
considered in future falls prevention research. Implications for Rehabilitation
Falls interventions for older adults following discharge home from hospital,
increase participation in life situations to a small extent. Health professionals
can include a focus on falls prevention programmes with older adults to promote
participation.

Langue : ANGLAIS