RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education

Safe Seniors In Sundbyberg - A Local Program In A Major Urban Area

Anita Hokby, Ragnar Andersson and Siv Sadigh Andersson

Stockholm County Council, Division of Social Medicine, Safety Promotion Unit, and Karolinska Institute, Dept. of Public Health Sciences, S-172 83 Sundbyberg, Sweden

INTRODUCTION

In recent decades, injuries among the elderly have become a major health problem in industrialized countries, and in the Scandinavian countries in particular. The ensuing vulnerability and the long recovery period makes fall and other mobility-related injuries a serious threat to the health and functioning of older persons. Injuries can in many ways be regarded as a general health indicator.

Previous prevention experience in Sweden has been limited to minor rural communities. A county-wide safety program among the elderly, have been worked out. On the initiative of the local public health service, a community safety program is being developed for the elderly in the municipality of Sundbyberg, a suburb with 31 000 inhabitants.

The objective of this program is to reduce the number of falls among the elderly, aged 65 and over. The intervention is aimed at the reduction of inactivity and isolation, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle among the elderly, the removal of physical hazards, and the correct use of medicines.

METHOD

A community-health model is under development, in cooperation with the actors concerned: local health authorities, municipal representatives, and voluntary organisations, such as senior citizens groups. The prevention program has been preceded by a community analysis, followed by discussion about and decision on the design. The intervention builds on experiences from various previous intervention projects regarding the elderly, but also includes one study which identifies risk factors in nursing homes.

The contents will consist of, among other things, study circles on the topic of safety promotion, exercise programs, safety rounds of the roads and home-visits. The strategy is designed by a steering group, constituted by the representatives named above. Surveillance data will guide the prevention efforts and monitor strategies and will be used for evaluation, of outcome effects as well.

CONCLUSIONS

To establish a county-wide safety program among the elderly in a major urban area is a practical and scientific challenge. It is expected that this local program will result in guidelines for the further development of a general safety program for the elderly in the County of Stockholm.

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