Comparison of older adults’ visual perceptual skills, cognitive function, and fall efficacy according to fall risk in the elderly

[Purpose] This research aims to identify the relationships among visual perceptual skills, cognitive functioning, and fall efficacy of older adults based on whether they are at risk for falls. [Subjects and Methods] Subjects included 116 older adults over 65 years of age who use D Seniors Welfare Center and Y Senior Citizen Center in Busan Metropolitan City. All research subjects were classified based on balance maintenance ability evaluation and whether or not they had experienced falls more than once. Those with scores below the cut-off standard were selected as a group of older adults at risk for falls. An MVPT-3 test was used to assess visual perceptual skill, MMSE-KC, and MoCA-K tests to assess cognitive function, and the FES-K falls efficacy test to classify subjects as either at risk for falls or not. [Results] After comparing scores for visual perceptual skills, cognitive functioning, and fall efficacy, subjects at risk for falls showed significantly lower scores than did those not at risk. [Conclusion] The study found that there are significant differences in balance ability, visual perceptual skill, cognitive functioning, and fall efficacy between older adults at risk for falls and those not at risk.