A Matter of Balance

Abstract

I would like to thank my family and friends for their endless support and unconditional love throughout this journey. My deepest gratitude and appreciation goes to my parents, who have given me the best of everything in this world without hesitation or limits. I will always cherish my father's words of wisdom and be grateful for him reminding me every day that "You can be anything you want in this world. If you want to be a painter, then be the best painter in this world." I will also be forever indebted to my mother for her daily check-ins and making sure my health and sanity were still intact. I truly appreciate the rest of my family and friends for knowing all the right ways in making this an extraordinary journey experience.-Tiffany Lau I am grateful for those who have stood by to support me along the way. First, I would like to thank my family for their continuous support throughout my time in graduate school. A special thanks to my husband Rob and my children Alexis and Bobby, for your patience, love and support. You continue to inspire me to follow me dreams. Also, thank you to my mom, Frances, for always believing and supporting me in all of my pursuits. To my friends, thank you for listening, offering me advice, and supporting me throughout this entire process. A special thanks to my friend Antoinette for encouraging me to pursue this degree. This journey would not have been possible without all of your dedicated support.-Victoria Reyes Throughout this experience I have learned that family is the single most important entity in my life. I would like to thank my dad, Kris, I will never forget when you told me how proud you were of me for getting accepted into graduate school and for passing down your brilliant creativity to me, for my mom, Elaine, and her never ending love, prayers, support and smartness, and for my brother, Jason, for always making me laugh and reminding me of my inner child. Your love and encouragement has brought me to where I am today.-Leslie Hollaway v Abstract Aims: The purpose of this program evaluation was to determine if A Matter of Balance with volunteer lay leaders (AMOB/VLL) was effective in increasing fall self-efficacy, fall control, and fall management in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Participants included community-dwelling older adults over the age of 60 who were concerned about falls and attended at least five of the eight AMOB/VLL program sessions. Fear of falling, pretest, posttest, and 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up data were collected from program participants between 2012 and 2013. Results: Participants demonstrated overall improvements in fall self-efficacy, fall control, and fall management. Qualitative analysis also showed that participants made behavioral, environmental, and physical changes after completing AMOB/VLL. There was also an overall improvement in sit-to-stand scores from pretest to posttest (M = 1.34, SD=2.49). Conclusions: Findings show that AMOB/VLL is effective in decreasing fear of falling by increasing fall self-efficacy, fall contro...