Falls of Older Adults: Which Is Worse, Falling or Fear of Falling?

Falls among older adults create major damage to their quality of life. The present study explores which has a greater impact on this quality and feeling of safety in daily life—falling itself or the fear of falling. A stratified sample of 403 Israelis aged 55–80 years was recruited through a panel survey company, and self-reported questionnaires were completed. The questions included history of the number of past falls, as well as meaning and quality of life, along with the feeling of safety. Fear of falling was directly measured using a new scale as an additional measure to the feeling of safety. The research analysis was based on a theoretical model, tested by path analysis. The main findings show that fear of falling has a greater negative impact on the feeling of safety and quality of life than actually falling and is significantly influenced by subjective psychological feelings. The implications for clinical practice should be to raise awareness among the staff who care for older adults of the psychological fear of falling among the adults in their care and build both diagnosis and treatment programs for treating and reducing the fear of falling. Such programs have to be built by organizations, either in institutions or in meetings organized for community-dwelling older adults.