title: An Exploratory Survey of Older Women's Post-Fall Decisions.
abstract: This research examined factors influencing older women's post-fall decision making. We surveyed 130 independent older women from continuing care retirement communities and non-institutional homes. We categorized women's post-fall decisions as medical, corrective, and social decisions, and examined the associations between post-fall decision categories, decisional conflict, number of post-fall changes, self-rated health, frequency of falls, severity of falls, health literacy, awareness and openness to long-term care institutional options, and demographics. Older women experienced greater decisional conflict when making medical decisions versus social ( p = .012) and corrective ( p = .047) decisions. Significant predictors of post-fall decisional conflict were awareness of institutional care options ( p = .001) and health literacy ( p = .001). Future educational interventions should address knowledge deficits and provide resources to enhance collaborative efforts to lower women's post-fall decisional conflict and increase satisfaction in the decisions they make after a fall.
authors.affiliation: 1 Bexar County Community Health Collaborative, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Caroline D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Bergeron
authors.affiliation: 2 University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Daniela B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.affiliation: 2 University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: S Melinda
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.affiliation: 3 Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Susan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: 2 University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: DeAnne K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Hilfinger Messias
authors.affiliation: 2 University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McKeever
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003657:Decision Making; D004777:Environment; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: decision making; decisional conflict; falls; health literacy; older women; survey