This study was conducted to develop and to determine the effect of an tailored falls prevention exercise for older adults.

Subjects consisted of 59 older adults (experimental group : 29, control group : 30) living at nursing homes. Experimental group participated in tailored falls prevention exercise for 16 weeks (3 times a week, 50 min every session). Data were collected before the exercise, 16 weeks and 24 weeks after the beginning of exercise.

1) the experimental group significantly improved the muscle strength of hip extensor and flexor, knee extensor and flexor, ankle dorsiflexor, and plantar flexor compared to the control group. 2) the experimental group significantly decreased the mean time for 10 times chair stand. 3) the experimental group significantly increased the standing time on one leg and the number of heel raise for 30 seconds compared to the control group. In addition more older adults in the experimental group completed the tandem stance and semi-tandem stance for 10 seconds than the control group. 4) The experimental group significantly decreased the mean time of 6m walk and the fall frequency compared to the control group.

This results suggest that tailored falls prevention exercise for older adults can improve muscle strength, static and dynamic balance and decrease the fall frequency of older adults.

The prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) among community-dwelling older women in Korea is not well known. This study examined the prevalence of UI and UI-related knowledge among community-dwelling Korean women aged 55 and over.

A cross-sectional descriptive-correlational study was conducted. Data were collected from 276 women aged 55 and over in a metropolitan city using a structured questionnaire.

Of 276 respondents, 28.3% (n=78) reported experiencing UI. More than 50% of respondents incorrectly agreed with the statement that UI is the result of normal aging, with only 20.9% realizing that there is an exercise that can control urine leaks when one coughs, sneezes, or laughs. Older women who had sought treatment had higher mean score for UI-related knowledge.

This study revealed substantial misconception about UI among community dwelling older women, demonstrating that comprehensive educational programs need to be developed to increase knowledge of UI.

To examine the relationships among loneliness, social support, and family function in elderly Korean.

The sample for this study were 290 elderly Korean who were at least 60 years of age. Data were collected by interview using the translated Korean versions of the Revised University of California Los Angels Loneliness Scale(RULS), Family APGAR, and Social Support Questionnaire 6.

Subjects were moderately lonely and had moderately functional families. Means for social support were 1.42 for network size and 4.09 for satisfaction. Subjects who lived with their spouses had a larger number of network members than who did not live with spouses. However, living with spouses was not associated with social support satisfaction. The level of loneliness was related negatively to the level of social support network, social support satisfaction and family function in this study. Social support satisfaction and Family function were the significant predictor of loneliness.

The number of social supporter and satisfaction and family function should be considered in nursing intervention to decrease the level of loneliness in older adults. Further studies and efforts will be needed to reduce the level of loneliness in older adults.

Effective transitional care is needed to improve the quality of life in older adult patients with chronic illness and avoid discontinuity of care and adverse events. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the key features, broader implications, and the utility of Meleis' transition theory intended for the transitional care of older adults with chronic illnesses. We present the role of nurse in the context of transitional care and propose future directions to increase the quality of nursing care.

The online databases Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, MEDLINE, and Science Direct were searched for relevant literature published since 1970 along with textbooks regarding nursing theory.

An evaluation of the usefulness of transition theory based on transitional care in older adult patients with chronic illnesses is provided. Healthy transition should be the expected standard of nursing care for older adults across all healthcare settings.

Nurses need to contribute to the development of transitional care for vulnerable populations; however, transition theory needs to be enhanced through additional theoretical work and repeated evaluations of the applicability in areas of transitional care.

This study was done to investigate the motivational, physical and affective benefits of exergaming in community dwelling older adult women.

The research design was a nonequivalent control group pre-test and post-test design. Sixty-one older adult women over the age of 65 were recruited from 6 community senior centers to participate in the 8 week exercise intervention or control group. Six centers were divided into one of three groups: exergame, qigong exercise, or control. The exergame and the qigong exercise group received 16 sessions, scheduled twice a week, with each session lasting 50 minutes. Test measures were completed before and after the 8 week intervention period for all participants. Measures included: Grip strength, chair stand, 6 m walking, balance, geriatric depression scale, vitality and intrinsic motivation.

There were significant improvements in the exergame and qigong exercise group for grip strength, chair stand, 6m walking, balance, vitality and intrinsic motivation at the end the 8-week program compared with the control group.

The exergame could be an effective alternative for older adult women to group exercise classes.

The purpose of this study was to identify sleep disorder experience in older patients living in the community and acknowledging being depressed.

For this study, 11 older patients with depression were purposively chosen. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews from July 2013 to January 2014 and analyzed in terms of by Giorgi's phenomenological methodology.

The study results showed that sleep disorder experience in older patients with depression consisted of sixteen themes and five themes-clusters: 1) exposure of the causes of sleep disorders; 2) life is painful; 3) harassing themselves and their family; 4) difficulty in controlling themselves; 5) trying to deal with the sleep disorder to overcome the situation.

It is necessary to develop educational guidelines for patients with sleep disorders or nursing interventions that anyone can easily provide for elders in the communities. The first priority should be given to efforts to apply diverse methods to improve sleep hygiene and minimize the period of exposure to medication before starting medication for patients with sleep disorders.

This study was done to examine the effect of an integrated care service which included a combination of oriental and western care on health outcomes in elderly patients with degenerative arthritis.

A prospective comparative design was used. Data were collected from May 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009 from 85 elderly patients with degenerative arthritis in the lower extremities who were followed in a hospital out-patient department for 8 weeks. The integrated care service group (n=36) received a combination of physical therapy, acupuncture, western medicines or herbal medicines, and the western care group (n=49) received physical therapy or western medicines. Functional independence, walking speed, rotation balance, pain intensity, service satisfaction and total medical costs for the two groups were compared at 8 weeks.

Functional independence (t=2.14, p=.036) and walking speed (t=2.51, p=.014) improved significantly in the integrated care group while pain intensity improved significantly in the western care group (t=3.35, p=.002). The integrated care group reported higher scores for service satisfaction (t=2.09, p=.041) and higher medical costs than the western care group (t=2.15, p=.035).

The results suggest that integrated care services are effective modalities to improve mobility and quality of life for elders with degenerative arthritis.

The purposes of this study were to examine the relationships among activities of daily living, self-efficiency, nursing home care quality and nursing home adaptation, and to identify the influencing factors of nursing home adaptation in nursing home residents.

The study employed a descriptive correlational design. The data were collected from 148 older adults without dementia by interview from six nursing homes in three cities from February 1, 2008 to February 28, 2008.

Levels of nursing home adaptation in older adult residents were different by type of decision maker of nursing home admission, reason of nursing home admission, type of payment and length of nursing home stay. The nursing home adaptation was significantly correlated with self-efficiency and nursing home care quality. The strongest predictor of nursing home adaptation was type of decision maker of nursing home admission followed by the self-efficiency.

The study suggested that during the decision making period of nursing home admission, older adults should have enough time and careful considerations of their families to decide by themselves in positive ways. Nursing home staff should be able to identify reasons of nursing home admission and demands or expectations of older adults and their families.

The purpose of this study was to identify effects of a strengthening program for the lower back in older women with chronic low back pain.

The research design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest experiment. The experimental group consisted of 16 older women and the control group, 14, all of whom had experienced low back pain for at least 3 months. The strengthening program for the lower back included lumbar stabilization exercises and education on pain management in daily living. For an 8 week period, exercises were done 3 days a week and on one day education was also given.

Pain and disability scores decreased significantly in the experimental group compared to the control group. Flexibility, life satisfaction and lumbar muscle strength scores increased significantly in the experimental group compared to the control group.

Low back pain and disability can be relieved, and flexibility, muscle strength, and life satisfaction increased through a program to strengthen the lower back. It is suggested that a program to strengthen the lower back would be an effective nursing intervention for older women with low back pain.