Education on Fall Prevention to Improve Self-Efficacy of Nursing Staff in Long Term Care: a Pilot Study

Purpose: Fall prevention is an ongoing concern in long-term care. Self-efficacy of nursing staff affects their performance levels related to fall prevention. Research concerning falls in the elderly is plentiful but there are no published studies addressing self-efficacy of nursing staff for implementation of fall prevention strategies in long-term care. The authors hypothesize that fall prevention education by an occupational therapist would be effective to improve the self-efficacy of nursing staff for implementation of fall prevention strategies and self-efficacy to prevent resident falls. Method: A pre-test post-test pilot study implementing a five-week, multifaceted, fall prevention education course was conducted by an occupational therapist. The Self-Efficacy for Preventing Falls-Assistant scale (SEPF-A) and the Self-Efficacy for Preventing Falls-Nurse (SEPF-N) scales were administered to the nursing staff respective of their professional licensure to assess falls self-efficacy before and after the course. Results: Eight participants (6 certified nursing assistants & 2 nurses) completed the course. A statistically significant improvement in falls self-efficacy was noted for the nursing assistants (p = 0.0430). Following training, there was a 40% increase in the SEPF-A and a 67% increase in the SEPF-N indicating an improvement in self-efficacy related to falls. Conclusion: Fall prevention training by a licensed expert may be an effective approach to increase self-efficacy of nursing staff for implementation of fall prevention strategies and for prevention of resident falls in long-term care.