Abstract
We clarified the trends of foot care research in nursing and discussed the issues regarding fall prevention support for elderly persons who need preventative nursing care.
Eleven references were extracted from a search of JAMAS “Ichushi-Web” using the keywords: “elderly”, “foot care”, and “fall prevention” or “preventative nursing care”, filtered by “original papers” and “nursing”.
This fact-finding study revealed a variety of foot abnormalities in the elderly, a lack of awareness of the feet, and a relationship between standing balance with abnormalities in foot morphology and function, indicating the need to address awareness in the elderly and adjust the morphological functions of the feet, which are necessary for standing balance. In the intervention studies, foot care included between three to seven items, and the items, content, methods, time, and frequency of implementation were individually tailored. Evaluation indices for fall prevention varied, and discussions indicated a composite effect. Additionally, self-care guidance was included in three of the references, indicating the challenges in establishing self-care.
Although foot care for the diverse feet of the elderly requires individualized implementation, it is necessary to improve the level of evidence for each of the component items, as well as establish simple and practical programs that include self-care.
