Association between fear of falling and self‐care behaviours of older people with hypertension

AIM: This study investigated the association between fear of falling and self‐care behaviours of older people with hypertension. DESIGN: A cross‐sectional study. METHODS: This study was conducted in 2019 on 301 older people with hypertension above the age of 60 years in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Persian Falls Efficacy Scale‐International, and a hypertension‐related self‐care behaviour questionnaire. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that gender, educational level and history of falling were significant factors associated with fear of falling; and marital status, educational level and income source were significant factors associated with self‐care behaviours (p < 0.05). Partial correlations controlling for education revealed a significant positive correlation showing that high fear of falling is associated with worse health promotion self‐care behaviours and significant inverse correlations with psycho‐emotional, social and daily self‐care behaviours (p < 0.05), meaning that high fear of falling is associated with better self‐care for these dimensions. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: This study involved patients in order to evaluate the validity and reliability of the questionnaires. The study was conducted on older people with hypertension referred to hypertension clinics in hospitals.