AbstractsPsychology

The Finnish population is rapidly aging. It is estimated that by 2060 the number of Finnish citizens over 65 years of age will almost double. In Finland, falls and slips make up 80 percent of the accidents of the elderly aged 65 years and over. Falls are also a major public health and economic burden. As muscular strength and balance decline with aging the risk of falls increases. Falling is closely related to fear of falling, which can accelerate balance deterioration through loss of confi-dence and restriction of physical activities. By preventing falls through balance training it is possible to prolong elderly people’s independent ability to function as well as influence the economic burden that falls inflict on society. The purpose of this Bachelor thesis was to produce a group-based balance train-ing program, which can contribute to elderly people’s independent ability to func-tion. In addition it can be a beneficial tool for physiotherapists in the context of working-life. The aim was to find out the effect of a group-based balance training program on balance and fear of falling of independently living elderly people. This Bachelor thesis was realized within the Nordplus project, which brought together Nordic and Baltic physiotherapy students. Our partners in cooperation were students from Lahti University of Applied Sciences and Tartu University. The group-based balance training program was carried out as an eight-week intervention with participants training one hour twice a week. There were altogether 24 male and female participants, aged 69–79 years. Balance and fear of falling were tested prior and post intervention. Measurement methods for balance were the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Timed Up and Go test (TUG). Fear of falling was measured using the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I). The results were analyzed with the SPSS19-program using nonparametric testing with the significance level p ≤ 0,05. The balance training program reduced fear of falling statistically significantly (p ≤ 0,05). The results from BBS and TUG were contradictory: BBS showed statistically significant improvement (p ≤ 0,001), whereas the results from TUG were not statis-tically significant (p > 0,05).; Suomen väestö on nopeasti ikääntymässä. Arvion mukaan vuoteen 2060 men-nessä yli 65-vuotiaiden suomalaisten määrä lähes kaksinkertaistuu. Kaatumiset ja liukastumiset muodostavat 80 prosenttia yli 65-vuotiaiden tapaturmista Suomessa. Kaatumiset ovat myös merkittävä kansanterveydellinen ja taloudellinen rasite. Kaatumisriski lisääntyy, kun lihasvoima ja tasapaino heikkenevät iän myötä. Kaatuminen liittyy läheisesti kaatumisen pelkoon. Kaatumisen pelko voi heikentää itseluottamusta sekä aikaansaada fyysisen aktiivisuuden rajoittamista, mikä puolestaan voi kiihdyttää tasapainon heikkenemistä. Ehkäisemällä kaatumisia tasapainoharjoittelun avulla on mahdollista pidentää ikäihmisten itsenäistä toimintakykyä sekä vaikuttaa kaatumisista koituviin kustannuksiin. Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli tuottaa ryhmässä toteutettava…