2011 Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 23-33
We proposed a hypothetical model for the fear of falling among community-living elderly people based on Lazarus’s cognitive-motivational-relational theory.
In our previous study, we showed that the appraisal of falls as threats among community-living elderly people included not only the physical effects of falls, but also changes in lifestyle, interpersonal relationships, and identity. In the present study, we made threat appraisal items for falls based on these results and administered a questionnaire survey to 289 community-living elderly people. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were investigated using a total of 287 valid responses. Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis were performed for the survey results, and a total of 24 items and five factors were eventually identified. The five factors were “trigger for QOL reduction”, “loss of independence”, “physical pain”, “psychological burden of depending on others”, and “trigger for a serious terminal phase”. The validity of the measurement concept was confirmed through relationships between actual age and awareness of age. As for reliability, internal consistency was confirmed based on Cronbach’s α coefficient (α≧0.7).
