Effectiveness of an educational video in older adults’ perception about falling risks: a randomized clinical trial*

OBJECTIVE: to assess the effectiveness of using an educational video in comparison with verbal nursing guidelines in increasing older adults’ perception of falling risks. METHOD: this is a randomized clinical trial in a cluster, with 138 community older adults, randomized into an intervention group, which watched an educational video, and a control group, which received verbal instructions. The perception of falling risks was assessed by FRAQ-Brazil in the pre-test and after a 30-day follow-up. Student’s t-test was used for dependent samples to compare intragroup means and for independent samples to compare intergroup means. The effect size was determined by Cohen’s d. RESULTS: in the intragroup analysis, intervention and control groups had an increase in perception, with a statistically significant difference between pre-and post-tests. In the intergroup analysis, the control group showed a greater increase in the perception of falling risks in relation to the intervention group (p = 0.013), with Cohen’s d of small effect. CONCLUSION: the use of an educational video and verbal instructions increased older adults’ perception of falling risks, with better results in the control group. However, the effect size was small. RBR-8nfggd.