Abstract
Falls are a major public health risk and a leading cause of emergency room visits for people of all ages. Finding ways to increase access to information and evidence-based falls prevention strategies is critically important across the lifespan. We tested the feasibility of conducting a falls risk assessment and awareness program among customers who attend beauty salons. We enrolled 78 customers from 2 beauty salons who completed a written questionnaire as well as several biometric and functional balance tests designed to assess falls risk. On average, enrolled participants were 56 years of age (range: 19–90), female (n = 70, 91%), and Black (n = 47, 62%). Eleven percent of enrolled customers were classified as at high risk of falls because they had reported two or more falls in the last 6 months. We found that younger age, higher education, employment, moderate physical activity, and decreased frequency of salon visits were associated with fewer falls. Results demonstrated initial interest in, and the feasibility of recruiting and enrolling customers into a beauty salon-based falls risk assessment and awareness program. Beauty salons, which are in all communities, represent an innovative setting for reaching people of all ages with life-saving falls prevention information and services.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all participating beauty salon owners, stylists, and their customers for their help on this project. We also extend deep appreciation for the enthusiastic support, encouragement, and guidance of members of the North Carolina Beauty and Barbershop Advisory Board for their help on all aspects of this work. In addition, we thank Meg Pomerantz, project director of the study, as well as Philip Hanson, graduate assistant of the study, for their help in recruitment, data collection, and data analysis.
Funding
This study was funded by the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research. The University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center is partly supported by award R49/CE002479 from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Arandia, G., Hargrove, J.L., Shubert, T.E. et al. Feasibility of Assessing Falls Risk and Promoting Falls Prevention in Beauty Salons. J Primary Prevent 38, 567–581 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-017-0486-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-017-0486-3