“Be ready to learn”: a qualitative study of the patient perspective of falls and fall prevention following discharge from a spinal injuries unit
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Patterson, Freyr
Fleming, Jennifer
Gustafsson, Louise
Atresh, Sridhar
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract
Purpose: Falls following a spinal cord injury (SCI) can have physical and psychological consequences, although some risk of falls may be acceptable to enable participation in meaningful activity. The study aimed to explore the patients’ perspective of falls and fall prevention after discharge from a inpatient spinal injuries unit. Methods: An interpretive descriptive approach guided the study. Semi structured interviews were conducted in the 6–12 months post discharge period. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and identify themes. Results: Fifteen individuals with SCI, with a mean age of 57 years and varied fall experiences were included. Three themes were identified including: 1. Expectation of falling; 2. Learning from my own experience and the experience of others’ and 3. How to prevent falls. Learning from their own experience and the experience of others was highly valued by persons with SCI and influenced expectations of falls. A variety of strategies were used to prevent falls. Conclusions: Strategies that include learning from others, include activities that are individual and provide skills in self-reflection may aid to make fall prevention meaningful.
Journal Title
Disability and Rehabilitation
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Item Access Status
Note
This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Biomedical and clinical sciences
Health sciences
Human society
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Rehabilitation
Spinal cord injury
falls
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Marshall, K; Patterson, F; Fleming, J; Gustafsson, L; Atresh, S, “Be ready to learn”: a qualitative study of the patient perspective of falls and fall prevention following discharge from a spinal injuries unit, Disability and Rehabilitation, 2023