Home-screen: A short scale to measure fall risk in the home

Community nurses are often the health professionals with whom older Austral ians living at home have most contact. The home environment has been identi fied to have a number of hazards associated with falls in older people. The Home-screen scale was specifically designed as a nurse-administered instru ment to identify environmental and behavioral risks that alert nurses to th e need for action to reduce fall risks in the home. A 14-item scale was adm inistered to 1,165 older people receiving community nursing services. Psych ometric investigation confirmed a 10-item scale with construct validity and internal consistency (alpha = 0.86, n = 989), explaining 60% of the constr uct of home safety (safe home environment and safe home behaviors). In addi tion, differences in mean scores were found in clients able and unable to t ransfer independently (t = 4.5 [df = 323.1] p < 0.001 [Group 1: M = 82.14, SD = 15.56: Group 2: M = 75.54, SD = 20.83, n = 989]). Similarly, an associ ation existed between clients with low scores on the Home-screen scale and the perceived need for home modification. A score of 74 on this scale has b een identified as a critical point for potential client injury. The use of this scale, both as an initial screening instrument and as a monitoring too l for community nurses working with older people. is recommended.