We conducted a randomized, controlled trial to examine the effects of a salt-reduction and efficacy-maintenance program on the improvement and maintenance of self-care and self-efficacy in reducing the salt intake of older people with high blood pressure. A total of 51 participants with hypertension/prehypertension in Indonesia were randomly assigned to a control group or one of two intervention groups: salt-reduction training or salt-reduction and efficacy-maintenance. The salt-reduction and efficacy-maintenance group received educational training and a maintenance meeting; the participants' knowledge, attitudes, self-care practices, and self-efficacy significantly improved after training and were maintained after the maintenance meeting. Participants in the salt-reduction training group showed significant effects for the same variables; however, their food salt concentrations rebounded after the maintenance meeting. No significant improvement was found in the control group. The salt-reduction and efficacy-maintenance group participants reported positive effects of salt reduction and different practices based on who prepared their meals. The salt-reduction and efficacy-maintenance group program was effective in improving and maintaining knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of salt-reduction practices and could be applied with community-dwelling older people with high blood pressure.
Aim:The purpose of this study was to develop an exercise program for elderly individuals in a long-term care facility. Developed through the synthesis of evidence-based nursing with the use of available research related to falls and exercise, the program was designed to increase balance, mobility, and muscle strength in the lower extremities in order to prevent falls and improve the self-efficacy of the patients. Methods: We developed an exercise program consisting of a warm-up, static stretching, muscle strengthening in the lower extremities, toe exercises, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, and cooldown. The study design was a prospective clinical trial. The intervention period was 3 months, with the outcomes measured before and after intervention and 3 months after cessation of the intervention. The 30 participants were elderly residents of a long-term care facility, 16 of whom were in the intervention group and 14 of whom were in the control group. The outcome values were mobility, muscle strength in the lower extremities, postural sway, fall efficacy, and the number of fallers and falls. The Friedman test was used to analyze the effectiveness of the outcomes. Results: The intervention group showed increased balance, maintained mobility, and showed a decreased number of fallers and falls, although the muscle strength and fall efficacy did not increase. No trainingrelated medical problems occurred. Conclusion: The exercise program was shown to be acceptable to use for the prevention of falls among elderly individuals in a long-term care facility.
METHODS
Study designThe study design was a 3 month, quasi-experimental clinical trial with an intervention ward and a control ward.
Subjects and settingThe subjects were recruited from two long-term care wards in a long-term care facility, 50 beds in each, located in the middle-western region of Japan. The
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