Practices and behaviors of professionals after falls in institutionalized elderly with and without cognitive decline

Falls are a major problem in nursing homes due to their high prevalence and impact on the functioning of elderly.

This study aims to: a) construct and validate a scale for assessing the practices and behaviors of professionals from nursing homes after falls in elderly; b) describe practices and behaviors after falls; and c) associate practices and behaviors with professionals' length of experience, training and age.

This is a correlational study, conducted in a sample of 152 professionals from six nursing homes. The study adhered to all of the Declaration of Helsinki principles.

The scale constructed has a Cronbach's alpha of 0.938. The 12 items of the scale are grouped into two factors. The most expressive indicators are the communication of fall episodes that result in severe injuries (4.64 ± 0.812) and the communication of falls that result in injuries and need intervention from health technicians (4.61 ± 0.832). We found no significant statistical difference between length of professional experience, training and age when associated with professional practices and behaviors after falls in elderly (p > 0.05).

Future studies should investigate the association of post-fall professional practices and behaviors with fear of another fall, fall recurrence, and changes in functioning of the elderly following a fall.