Original articleThe Association of Balance Capacity and Falls Self-Efficacy With History of Falling in Community-Dwelling People With Chronic Stroke
Section snippets
Participants
We recruited a convenience sample of 50 community-dwelling people with chronic stroke from community stroke support groups or through posted advertisements. Volunteers underwent a telephone screening to determine eligibility and were scheduled for a single study session. People were included if they had a stroke onset more than 1 month prior, were able to follow 3-step commands, lived at home or in an assisted living facility, were able to walk 10m with no physical assistance with or without
Results
Subject demographics and medical history are shown in table 1. Average age of the subjects was 59.9±11.9 years (range, 35−87y), with 20 subjects less than 60 years and 10 subjects less than 50 years. Mean time since stroke was 62.2±62.1 months (range, 3−312mo), with 38 (76%) subjects more than 12 months since stroke onset. All subjects were independent in ambulation. Community ambulation was reported by 47 (94%) subjects; 62% reported unlimited community ambulation and 32% ambulation in a
Discussion
This study determined the relationship of falls-related self-efficacy, balance capacity, and functional mobility to fall history in a sample of community-dwelling people with chronic stroke. We also identified strength as a variable that explained a portion of the variance in all 3 of these constructs. These findings identify potentially modifiable features of the fall risk profile of the population of people with chronic stroke and may influence intervention strategies aimed at preventing
Conclusions
Falls at a rate of 40% are still occurring even in this high functioning population with stroke, warranting continued falls prevention intervention and education in this population. Subjects with a history of falls have fear of falling and decreased falls-related self-efficacy, suggesting that these constructs should be included in falls risk assessment and intervention. Subjects with a history of multiple falls have poorer balance capacity necessitating balance training to be performed even in
Acknowledgment
We acknowledge Poonam Pardasaney, PT, MS, for her assistance with data analysis.
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