The Effects of Short-Term Exercise Intervention on Falls Self-Efficacy and the Relationship between Changes in Physical Function and Falls Self-Efficacy in Japanese Older People

Arai T, Obuchi S, Inaba Y, Nagasawa H, Shiba Y, Watanabe S, Kimura K, Kojima M: The effects of short-term exercise intervention on falls self-efficacy and the relationship between changes in physical function and falls self-efficacy in Japanese older people: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2007;86:133–141. Objective: To evaluate the effects of short-term exercise intervention on falls self-efficacy and to evaluate the relationships between baseline falls self-efficacy and changes in physical function in older people. Design: Single-blinded randomized controlled trial. The participants were 171 subjects aged 65 and older. They were randomly assigned into an exercise intervention group or a health education group. The subjects in the exercise intervention group performed an exercise program for 3 mos. Falls self-efficacy was measured using the falls efficacy scale (FES). The measurements of physical function included static and dynamic balance, walking velocity, flexibility, and strength. Results: There was no significant improvement of FES in either group. But there were significant negative correlations between baseline FES score and the change in maximum walking velocity (r = −0.29, P < 0.018) and knee extensor strength (r = −0.25, P < 0.040. Linear regression analysis showed that the change in static balance was related to baseline FES. Conclusions: The results suggest that a short-term exercise intervention had no effect, possibly because of the high baseline FES scores of the participants, on the confidence of community-dwelling older persons. However, the negative association between FES score and increases in some measures of function suggest that short-term exercise may be beneficial to a subset of older persons with lower FES scores.