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.

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.

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.