title: Fear of falling and balance ability in older men: the priest study.
abstract: Studies examining fear of falling among older adult men remain limited. The objectives of this study were to compare balance confidence in 2 age cohorts of older clergy and identify predictive determinants of balance confidence in a liturgical research initiative. Participants included 131 community-dwelling Roman Catholic priests age 60-97 yr living in religious communities in 10 mid-Atlantic states. Subjects completed the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), timed up-and-go (TUG) test, and 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Younger priests (60-74 yr) demonstrated a significantly higher ABC score than the older cohort (75 and above yr) of priests (89.1 ± 12.6 vs.78.4 ± 13.9, p = .001). Confidence was significantly correlated with BBS (rho = .69, p < .01), TUG (r = -.58, p < .01), and GDS (r = -.39, p < .01) scores. A stepwise-regression model demonstrated that balance ability, mood, assistive-device use, and physical activity predicted 52% of the variance in balance confidence.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Physical Therapy, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD.
authors.forename: Dennis W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Klima
authors.forename: Roberta A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.forename: Emily A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Keshner
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davey
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002410:Catholicism; D002977:Clergy / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D005239:Fear; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States