The emotional consequences of falls for older people and their families

Abstract

The emotional impact on elderly patients and their relatives of falls has not been widely studied. The authors of this study interviewed a consecutive series of 69 elderly patients admitted to hospital after a fall, together with their carers, to assess the significance of any fear of future falls and to examine other variables that might be associated with such fears. Whilst 25% of the patients expressed a significant fear of falling, 58% of the carers interviewed reported a great fear that their relative/friend might fall again. Fear of falling was primarily related to the emotional rather than the physical status of the patient. An attempt was made to contact all the patients and relatives one month after discharge and further interviews were conducted with those who were successfully followed up. Of the 46 patients re-interviewed, the proportion still reporting a fear of falling had dropped to 19% although the proportion of carers expressing such fears had risen to 66%. Finally there was no evidence that a fear of falling had influenced rehabilitation outcome.