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Impact of a multifaceted community-based falls prevention program on balance-related psychologic factors
Johanne Filiatrault1, Lise Gauvin, Lucie Richard
1Institut national de santé publique du Québec, Montreal, QC, Canada. johanne.filiatrault@umontreal.ca
Objective:
To assess the impact of a multifaceted falls prevention program including exercise and educational components on perceived balance and balance confidence among community-dwelling seniors.
Design:
Quasi-experimental design.
Setting:
Community-based organizations.
Participants:
Two hundred community-dwelling adults aged 60 years and over recruited by community-based organizations.
Intervention:
A 12-week multifaceted falls prevention program including 3 components (a 1-hour group exercise class held twice a week, a 30-minute home exercise module to be performed at least once a week, a 30-minute educational class held once a week).
Main Outcome Measures:
Perceived balance and balance confidence.
Results:
Multivariate analysis showed that the program was successful in increasing perceived balance in experimental participants. However, balance confidence was not improved by program participation.
Conclusions:
A multifaceted community-based falls prevention program that was successful in improving balance performance among community-dwelling seniors also had a positive impact on perceived balance. However, the program did not improve participants' balance confidence. These results suggest that balance confidence has determinants other than balance and that new components and/or modifications of existing components of the program are required to achieve maximal benefits for seniors in terms of physical and psychologic outcomes.
