Association between fear of falling and self-care behaviours of older people with hypertension.
Leila Kouchaki, Ali Darvishpoor Kakhki, Zahra Safavi Bayat and 1 others
PMID 36824048WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults with hypertension who feared falling more reported poorer self-care aimed at maintaining health, such as diet, activity and medication routines.
They reported better emotional, social and daily self-care.
Key findings
01Higher fear of falling was linked to poorer health-promotion self-care in older adults with hypertension.
02Higher fear of falling was linked to better psycho-emotional, social and daily self-care.
03Gender, educational level and history of falling remained significantly associated with fear of falling.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was a convenience group from eight hospitals in one province, so it may not represent other older adults with hypertension. The self-care questionnaire was newly developed and the authors said it needs further reliability and validity testing, especially for the spiritual domain. Participants reported their own behaviours, and the long questionnaires may have caused fatigue or recall problems in an older population. The regression models explained less than 20% of the variation in fear of falling and self-care.
Declared interests
This research received no specific grant, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that fear of falling improves self-care overall. The study found mixed associations: worse health-promotion self-care but better emotional, social and daily self-care. It was cross-sectional, so it cannot show which came first.