Falls risk perception measures in hospital: a COSMIN systematic review

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Health Services Research
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Hospital falls prevention is a priority due to adverse health outcomes and costs.
• Updated guidelines emphasize assessing patient concerns about falling.
• This systematic review evaluates instruments measuring falls risk perception in hospitalized adults.

Approach:

• Conducted a systematic review following Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) guidelines.
• Searched ten databases (2002-2022) for studies on falls risk perception measures in hospital inpatients.
• Included 18 studies evaluating 20 distinct falls risk perception instruments.

Key Points:

• Instruments were categorized into five constructs: Balance Confidence, Falls Efficacy/Concern, Fear of Falling, Self-Awareness, and Behaviour/Intention.
• Two patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) received Class A recommendations: Falls Risk Perception Questionnaire and Spinal Cord Injury-Falls Concern Scale.
• Thirteen PROMs received Class B recommendations, indicating a need for further validation.

Conclusions:

• Two validated tools show promise for assessing falls risk perception in specific hospital populations.
• Further research is needed to validate additional falls risk perception measures for broader clinical use.
• Improving falls risk perception assessment can enhance multifactorial falls prevention strategies in hospitals.