Exploring factors contributing to the risk of falls in community-dwelling older adults: A review of the literature

Abstract

Background: Falling is a big threat to community-dwelling older adults’ independence. The chance of falling increases as people become older, which increases morbidity and mortality. The outcomes related to falls impact families, communities, and healthcare systems. As a result, the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) seeks to decrease the number of falls for community-dwelling older adults in Qatar.

Aims: To explore the risk factors for falls in community-dwelling older adults. To inform the education of PHCC nurses so that they might begin to look at prevention strategies.

Method: Cronin et al.’s framework guided this integrative literature review. CINAHL, Academic Search Complete, Embase, and PubMed databases were utilized to search for relevant articles. The search process returned 20 articles that met the inclusion requirements.

Results: Various intrinsic and extrinsic factors lead to falls in community-dwelling older adults. The intrinsic factors include socio-demographic factors, physical health factors, physiological factors, sensory factors, psychological factors, and social factors. Environmental factors were the sole extrinsic factor.

Conclusion: The findings of this literature review can be used to inform the creation of an educational program to improve home care nurses’ understanding of and attitudes toward the causes of falls in community-dwelling older adults. Through this program, nurses may begin to predict factors that lead to falls and, therefore, find strategies that help to reduce them.