ABSTRACT
Background: The fall prevention activities of nursing staff are emphasized more in order to reduce the incidence of falls in elderly people in long-term care hospitals. Objectives: To examine the extent of knowledge and attitude about falls and the degree of fall prevention activities among nursing staff in long-term care hospitals, and to identify the effect of knowledge and attitude about falls on prevention activities. Design: The data collection was, in the period between July 10th, 2017 and August 10th, 2017, accumulated by constructive questionnaires targeting 138 nurses and nurse aids who are employed within five long-term care hospitals. Methods: The statistical processing was as follows: the frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression analysis. Results: The fall prevention activities showed a significant difference statistically in the fields of age (F = 5.33, p = 0.002), working career (F = 3.98, p = 0.014), positions (t = 2.71, p = 0.008), subject’s experience with patient falls (t = 2.15, p = 0.033), fall prevention education (t = 3.32, p = 0.001). As for the correlation between knowledge and attitude towards falls and fall prevention activities, knowledge and attitude towards fall (r = 0.45, p < 0.001), knowledge and fall prevention activities (r = 0.27, p < 0.002), attitude towards falls and fall prevention activities (r = 0.42, p < 0.001) had significantly positive correlations. As for the fall prevention activities of nursing staff in long-term care hospitals, their attitude towards falls (β = 0.32, p < 0.001) had an effect on fall prevention activities. Conclusion: In order to increase fall prevention activities in long-term care hospitals, nursing staff’ attitude towards falls is important. Therefore, we need to explore diverse strategies to promote fall prevention activities of nursing.