Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

6-2014

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

D.P.T.

Program

Physical Therapy

Advisor

Suzanne Babyar

Subject Categories

Physical Therapy

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the compared effectiveness of different instruction types for fall prevention training in an inpatient rehabilitation setting based on 6-month falls incidence. This study included 89 English-speaking patients aged 18-90 who participated in a fall prevention training program at New York Presbyterian Hospital’s inpatient rehabilitation center. Patients were divided into two class types, a group or an individual class. Both classes were subdivided into with and without a caregiver. A 10-Meter Walk Test, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and admission and discharge Functional Independence Measure (FIM™) scores were recorded for baseline comparisons among groups. MoCA scores less than 26 designated that a caregiver would be present during the training. Other patients had a caregiver present secondary to vision, speech/language, and hearing issues. Falls were measured over a 6-month follow-up period by phone interview. Results found no significant difference in age, gender, or cognition between fallers and non-fallers as well as no significant difference in fall incidence among different class types. These findings indicate that fall outcome was not affected by different types of training. However, the study did find that falls prevention training prior to discharge was effective in decreasing overall falls rate (25%) compared to previous studies (33%).

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