ACCEPTABILITY AND COMPLIANCE WITH WEARING ENERGY-SHUNTING HIP PROTECTORS - A 6-MONTH PROSPECTIVE FOLLOW-UP IN A FINNISH NURSING-HOME

Objectives: to assess the acceptability and compliance with use of an energy-shunting hip protector in institutionalized elderly people. Des ign and setting: a 6-month prospective follow-up in a Finnish nursing home.Participants: 19 ambulatory nursing home residents with a high ri sk of hip fracture. Main outcome measures: the proportion of the resid ents who were willing to use the device, the number of hours of wearin g the protector and the attitudes of the study subjects and the caregi vers towards the appearance, comfort, fit, efficacy and laundering of the protector. Results: 12 of the 19 ambulatory residents (63%) agreed to use the protector. During the study period, these subjects wore th e protector on average for more than 90% of their active days, i.e. th e days they were mobile. Two subjects wore the protectors at night tim e; the rest only during waking hours. Mean wearing time during waking hours exceeded 90%. Conclusion: external hip joint protectors are a fe asible strategy to prevent hip fractures in institutionalized elderly people. The attitude, education and motivation of the staff may be a f actor in achieving good user compliance. Further community-based studi es on acceptability and compliance in wearing external hip joint prote ctors are needed for verification of benefits to the general populatio n of older people.