DOI: 10.5176/2315-4330_WNC19.230
Authors: Mr. Seng Giap Marcus Ang
Abstract: This paper describes the development of the Carers’ Fall Concern Instrument (CFC-I) which measures carers’ concern about their older people (carees) at risk of falling. Carers play an important role in preventing falls at home and the risk of a caree falling can potentially affect the carers’ physical and psychosocial health, burden of care, and complicate fall prevention strategies. Currently, there is no validated instrument to measure carers’ fall concern. Step One in the development of the CFC-I was to identify factors contributing to carers’ fall concern using evidence from an integrative literature review and semi-structured qualitative interview. Step Two involved constructing items and selecting an appropriate response format for measuring carers’ fall concern. Step Three established the content validity of the CFC-I by an expert panel and Step Four examined the reliability of the CFC-I by piloting the new instrument with carers of older people living at home. Forty-six items were generated measuring four domains: carers’ perception of fall and fall risk; carees’ behaviour and attitude towards fall risk; carees’ health and function; and, carees’ living environment. Initial validation of the CFC-I revealed excellent content validity and reliability with an average-item content validity index of 0.82 and Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.94.
Keywords: carer; older people; fall concern; fall risk; fear of falling
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