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Factors associated with the initial acceptance of hip protectors amongst older people in residential care.

SIR—Hip fractures in older people are a major public health problem. Hip protectors have been advocated as a means of preventing hip fractures in this group [1]. The impact of hip fracture and methods of prevention can be found in Appendix 1 of the supplementary data on the journal website (http://www.ageing.oxfordjournals.org/). Many older people refuse hip protectors when initially offered [2–6]. Across a range of studies, initial acceptance of hip protectors ranged from 37 to 72% with a median of 68% [7]. Increasing acceptance rates is an important goal, therefore. The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) is interested in the use of hip protectors as a way of preventing fractures amongst older people. ‘Slips, trips and falls’ accounted for 53% of incidents reported to the NPSA during January–June 2003. Two per cent of all incidents resulted in serious harm (NPSA, unpublished report). The NPSA commissioned this work to answer the following questions for older people living in residential care homes: