Confrontation with fear of falling among hospitalized older patients

Abstract

Abstract Background Fear of falling (FOF), regarded as one of the major long-term detrimental outcomes, is a common psychological issue that should not be neglected in elderly people with previous falling experience. This study intends to explore the confrontation of FOF among the elderly patients hospitalized due to falls. Methods Semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with 21 elderly patients hospitalized in trauma surgery department wards due to falls, ranging in age from 61 to 83 years old (average 70.67 years)in the Orthopaedics Department of the hospital. Later, thematic analysis was performed to analyse the data obtained from the patient interviews. Results The results of this study proved that three types of coping strategies were developed by hospitalized older adults: primary confrontation, in terms of explaining the reason of falls by attributing it to inevitable Consequence of Ageing as well as accidental Events; secondary confrontation of fear including self-consolation, downstairs comparison and distraction from fear, as well as confronting and reflecting fear; and tertiary confrontation of the consequences of falling such as active rehabilitation, food therapy, seeking emotional support, use of assistive devices and environment modification. Conclusion The study highlighted the importance of taking preventive measure to avoid FOF. Moreover, a variety of cognitive coping strategies could be explored with hospitalized older adults to deal with the emotion of fear. The potential consequences of FOF can be dealt with by provide trainings in physical exercises and lectures containing nutrition information,etc.