Details:

Alternative Title:
Prev Chronic Dis
Personal Author:
Popp, Janet ; Waters, Debra L. ; Leekity, Karen ; Ghahate, Donica ; Bobelu, Jeanette ; ... More +
Popp, Janet ; Waters, Debra L. ; Leekity, Karen ; Ghahate, Donica ; Bobelu, Jeanette ; Tsikewa, Ross ; Herman, Carla J. ; Shah, Vallabh Less -
Description:
Background

The unintentional death rate from falls is higher among American Indians from the US Southwest than from other regions in the country. The Zuni Pueblo is a geographically isolated, rural American Indian community located in western New Mexico. Education and screening for falls risk is lacking in this community and may be needed to reduce falls and falls-related illness and death.

Community Context

Building on a 17-year relationship with the Zuni Health Initiative, meetings were held with Zuni tribal leadership, staff from the Zuni Senior Center and Zuni Home Health Services, members of the Zuni Comprehensive Community Health Center, Indian Health Service, and Zuni community health representatives (CHRs) to discuss elder falls in the community. Existing infrastructure, including CHRs who were already trained and certified in diabetes education and prevention, provided support for the study.

Methods

Tribal leadership agreed that CHRs would be trained to administer the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Stay Independent checklist to assess falls risk. They administered the checklist during one-on-one interviews in Shiwi (Zuni native language), English, or both to a convenience sample of 50 Zuni elders.

Outcomes

Mean age of participants was 72 (standard deviation, 7.4) years, and 78% were women. Fifty-two percent reported at least 1 fall during the past year; 66% scored 4 or more on the CDC Stay Independent checklist, indicating elevated risk for falls. CHRs reported that the checklist was easy to administer and culturally accepted by the elder participants.

Interpretation

This study broadened the Zuni Health Initiative to include falls risk screening. Self-reported falls were common in this small sample, and the incidence was significantly higher than the national rate. These results highlight the need for community engagement, using culturally acceptable falls screening, to promote falls education and implement falls prevention programs.


Subjects:
[+]
Community Case Study
Source:
Prev Chronic Dis. 14.
Pubmed ID:
28103184
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC5268745
Document Type:
Journal Article
Collection(s):
Preventing Chronic Disease
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:5f7809bf204e6b394d74c2b80f4d0f10b63411f682b299d5043b3179ccd1a8b1
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/44121/cdc_44121_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

• PCD-14-E05.nxml

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