The effects of simulated video education about falling on falling rate and fear of falling among hospitalized elderly people: a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Management of falling and its consequences is a major challenge of elderly nursing care. An effective educational strategy is essential to prevent falling among elderly people. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of simulated video education (SVE) about falling on falling rate and fear of falling (FOF) among hospitalized elderly people. METHODS: This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted from May 2021 to February 2022. Participants were 132 elderly people conveniently selected from a leading hospital in Qom, Iran, and randomly allocated to an intervention and a control group through block randomization. Data collection instruments were a demographic and clinical questionnaire, a researcher-made falling rate questionnaire, and the Falls Efficacy Scale-International. Participants in the intervention group individually watched three simulated videos (fifteen minutes in total) and had access to the videos for frequent watching. Their FOF was assessed on the first day of hospitalization, hospital discharge, and one and three months after hospital discharge. The data were analyzed at a significance level of less than 0.05 using the SPSS software (v. 16.0). RESULTS: Groups did not significantly differ from each other respecting baseline demographic and clinical characteristics (P > 0.05). After the intervention, falling rate in the intervention group was 46% less than the control group (incidence rate ratio = 0.5454, 95% CI = 0.307–0.968; P = 0.039). Moreover, the posttest mean score of FOF in the intervention group was significantly less than the control group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: SVE is effective in significantly reducing falling rate and FOF. Context-based SVE is recommended to reduce falling rate and FOF among hospitalized elderly people. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: The effects of simulated video education about falling on falling rate and fear of falling among hospitalized elderly people. Clinical trial registration: this research was registered (17/09/2021) in the https://www.irct.ir with registration number: IRCT20210910052427N1).