The purpose of this study is to comment on the fall prevention program that is focused on Bandura's self-efficacy theory and scale for fall-related self-efficacy. Fall-related self-efficacy is the confidence to carry on the activities of daily living without falling. There are four sources of information that influence a fall-related self-efficacy. These are “inactive mastery experience”, “vicarious experience”, “verbal persuasion” and “physiological and affective states.”
In our fall prevention program, the following devices were included: (1) reinforcement of a success experience as a inactive mastery experience; (2) interchange between participants as a vicarious experience; (3) a detailed physical examination, measurements of walking ability and explanation from a doctor, as “verbal persuasion”; and (4) the device to let the participants be aware how they progressed in “physiological and affective states”.
We developed a fall-related self-efficacy scale on the basis of the Falls Efficacy Scale by Tinetti et al (1991), and measured the fear of falling at the fall prevention program. No difference of the Fall-related Self-Efficacy was found either between the intervention group and the control group, or between the beginning and the end of the program.
