Author(s)

Sri Kusmiati, Endeh Nurgiwiati, Ali Hamzah

Bandung Nursing Department, Bandung Health Polytechnic, Bandung, Indonesia.

Currently the number of elderly in Indonesia tends to increase. Based on 2014 Susenas data, the number of elderly in Indonesia reaches 20.24 million people (8.03%). One of the most common physical disorders in the elderly is disruption of the body’s balance and risk to falls. The risk of falling in the elderly can be prevented by doing physical exercise in the form of Salsa dance. Salsa dance has movements that can improve stability, flexibility, mobility and body balance. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of Salsa dance on body balance in the elderly. The research method used quasi-experimental with the pre test-post test design control group. As many as 70 elderly who experienced balance disruption in the Puskemas Sarijadi had participated in this study. The sample was taken by using consecutive sampling, then divided equally between the control group and the intervention group. The instrument used to measure elderly balance is Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). Data analysis is carried out in two stages, namely univariate analysis using the mean, standard deviation, maximum value and minimum value and percentage; then followed by bivariate analysis using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and independent T test. The result shows that there are differences in the balance of the elderly before and after the intervention in the treatment group, whereas in the control group there were no significant differences. Therefore, it can be concluded that Salsa dance can significantly improve elderly body balance, especially if done regularly. The increase will appear significant after the intervention carried out for 10 and 20 times. It is suggested that nurses utilize Salsa dance as an alternative in dealing with symptoms of body balance disorders in the elderly. This intervention can be implemented along with other activities of the elderly in community centre health services.

Elderly Body Balance, Salsa Dance, Risk of Falls

Kusmiati, S. , Nurgiwiati, E. and Hamzah, A. (2018) Salsa Dance Could Improve Effectively to Body Balance in Elderly with Risk of Falls. Open Journal of Nursing, 8, 771-778. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2018.811058.