Publications by authors named "Dorothy I Baker"
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to document results of State funded fall prevention clinics on rates of self-reported falls and fall-related use of health services.
Methods: Older adults participated in community-based fall prevention clinics providing individual assessments, interventions, and referrals to collaborating community providers. A pre-post design compares self-reported 6-month fall history and fall-related use of health care before and after clinic attendance.
Background: Anecdotal evidence suggests a rising trend in the occurrence of fall-related traumatic brain injuries (FR-TBI) among persons ≥ 70 years. To document this apparent trend on a more substantive basis, this report longitudinally describes overall and age-stratified rates of three outcomes attributed to FR-TBI among persons ≥ 70 years: emergency department visits (ED), hospitalizations, and terminal hospitalizations.
Methods: Eight years (2000-2007) of observational data from emergency departments and acute care hospitals serving a non-randomly selected, densely populated region in southern Connecticut, U.
Objectives: To evaluate the association between the treatment region (TR) or usual care region (UCR) of the Connecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention (CCFP), a clinical intervention for prevention of falls, and the rate of hospitalization for fall-related traumatic brain injury (FR-TBI) in persons aged 70 and older and to describe the Medicare charges for FR-TBI hospitalizations.
Design: Using a quasi-experimental design, rates of hospitalization for FR-TBI were recorded over an 8-year period (2000-2007) in two distinct geographic regions (TR and UCR) chosen for their similarity in characteristics associated with occurrence of falls.
Setting: Two geographical regions in Connecticut.
Purpose Of Study: To describe the ongoing efforts of the Connecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention (CCFP) to move evidence regarding fall prevention into clinical practice and state policy.
Methods: A university-based team developed methods of networking with existing statewide organizations to influence clinical practice and state policy.
Results: We describe steps taken that led to funding and legislation of fall prevention efforts in the state of Connecticut.
Objectives: To compare readmissions of Medicare recipients of usual home care and a matched group of recipients of a restorative model of home care.
Design: Quasiexperimental; matched and unmatched.
Setting: Community, home care.
Objectives: To understand the bathing experiences, attitudes, and preferences of older persons in order to inform the development of effective patient-centered interventions.
Design: Qualitative study using the Grounded Theory framework.
Setting: In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted in participants' homes.
Background: Falling is a common and morbid condition among elderly persons. Effective strategies to prevent falls have been identified but are underutilized.
Methods: Using a nonrandomized design, we compared rates of injuries from falls in a region of Connecticut where clinicians had been exposed to interventions to change clinical practice (intervention region) and in a region where clinicians had not been exposed to such interventions (usual-care region).
Purpose: Our purpose in this project was to conceptualize and implement evidence-based fall-prevention programming into senior centers. We present challenges to this process and strategies to overcome them.
Design And Methods: We carried out a dissemination project in nine diverse senior centers in Connecticut.
Objectives: To describe the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) across dissemination sites, to detail adaptations, and to summarize advantages across sites.
Design: Cross-sectional survey.
Setting: HELP sites in acute care hospitals.
Objectives: To report on the penetration of, and identified barriers to and facilitators of, efforts to incorporate evidence-based fall risk assessment and management into clinical practice throughout a defined geographic area.
Design: Dissemination project.
Setting: North central Connecticut.
Objectives: To determine the extent to which healthcare providers reportedly address evidence-based fall risk factors in older patients after exposure to an educational intervention and to determine barriers reportedly encountered when these healthcare providers intervene with or refer older patients with identified fall-risk factors.
Design: Cross-sectional study using a structured interview.
Setting: Geographic area of Connecticut where the Connecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention (CCFP) has been implemented.
Objective: To determine whether a home-based physical therapy (PT) program prevented decline in several higher-level measures of physical function among physically frail, community-living older persons.
Design: Randomized controlled trial.
Setting: General community.
Objectives: To describe the development and implementation of a preventive, home-based physical therapy program (PREHAB) and to provide evidence for the safety and interrater reliability of the PREHAB protocol.
Design: Demonstration study.
Setting: General community.
Background: Functional decline in physically frail, elderly persons is associated with substantial morbidity. It is uncertain whether such functional decline can be prevented.
Methods: We randomly assigned 188 persons 75 years of age or older who were physically frail and living at home to undergo a six-month, home-based intervention program that included physical therapy and that focused primarily on improving underlying impairments in physical abilities, including balance, muscle strength, ability to transfer from one position to another, and mobility, or to undergo an educational program (as a control).