UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
8-1-2012
Unintentional Home Injury Risks Among the Elderly in Southern Nevada Michelle Echauz Ching University of Nevada, Las Vegas,
[email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Environmental Health Commons, Other Architecture Commons, and the Public Health Commons Repository Citation Ching, Michelle Echauz, "Unintentional Home Injury Risks Among the Elderly in Southern Nevada" (2012). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. Paper 1659.
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UNINTENTIONAL HOME INJURY RISKS AMONG THE ELDERLY IN SOUTHERN NEVADA
by
Michelle Echauz Ching BS
Bachelor of Science in Biology University of San Francisco 2007
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Master of Public Health
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health School of Community Health Sciences The Graduate College
University of Nevada, Las Vegas August 2012
Copyrighted by Michelle E. Ching, 2012 All Right Reserved
THE GRADUATE COLLEGE
We recommend the thesis prepared under our supervision by
Michelle Ching entitled
Unintentional Home Injury Risks Among the Elderly in Southern Nevada be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Public Health School of Community Health Sciences
Michelle Chino, Ph.D., Committee Chair Shawn Gerstenberger, Ph.D., Committee Member Tim Bungum, Ph.D., Committee Member Nancy Menzel, Ph.D., Graduate College Representative Tom Piechota, Ph.D., Interim Vice President for Research & Dean of the Graduate College August 2012
ii
ABSTRACT Unintentional Home Injury Risks Among the Elderly in Southern Nevada By Michelle Echauz Ching Dr. Michelle Chino, Examination Committee Chair Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health University of Nevada, Las Vegas The elderly population (65 years of age and older) is one of the fastest growing populations in the US. A major public health concern involving the elderly population is unintentional injuries in the home. Since elderly adults typically spend the majority of their time in the home, minimizing unintentional home injury hazards is crucial for this population. The Nevada Healthy Homes Partnership (NHHP) program is a grant funded effort that helps to improve the quality and availability of safe and healthy homes in Nevada. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the NHHP program interventions in reducing home injury hazards among the elderly living in Southern Nevada and to compare visual observations with elderly perceptions of hazard reduction. A total of 23 participants that completed pre- and post-intervention home visits were included in this study. Wilcoxon signed rank test and McNemar’s test were utilized to compare pre- and post-intervention visual observations and elderly perceptions of home injury hazards. Specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and the phi coefficient (F) were obtained to determine the consistency between visual observations and elderly perceptions. There was a statistically significant change in fire hazards less than 1m (p=0.030) as measured by visual observations, and trip or fall hazards (p=0.039), smoke detector (p=0.003), fire extinguisher (p=0.002), and carbon monoxide detector (p
