Abstract:

The aim of the study was to investigate the fear of falls in older adults while conducting the reliability analyzes of Falls Efficacy Scale- I for Turkish version living in Mugla and secondary aim was to study relationship between fear of falls (FES-I Score), gender and number of falls. All participants were living in the community and aged 65 years or over (N=100) included as voluntarily to this study. The FES-I questionnaire which is a self-report questionnaire, providing information on level of concern about falls for a range of activities of daily living, contains 16 items scored on four point scale of 1-4, was used for research aim. Internal reliability of the FES-I was evaluated by calculating the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the whole scale. Independent sample test and correlation tests were used for statistical analysis. There were relationship between falls self efficacy, gender and number of falls. Therefore, there was significant differences between genders in FES-I scores and number of falls. In conclusion, Identifying fear of falling may be important to decrease inactivity in older age. Some exercise promotions may help to this people who are seeking be active by decreasing fear of falling and number of falls.

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