Determination of Foot Health Problems, Foot Care Knowledge and Behavior in Older People

Aim: Changes that occur with aging, increasing chronic diseases, inadequacies in maintaining basic foot care, and problems related to shoe selection lead to an increase in foot problems. Foot health problems are an important public health problem that lead to increased risk of falling, functional disability and social problems. The aim of this study was to identify foot health problems, foot care knowledge and behaviors of community-dwelling older people and nursing home residents. Methods: This descriptive study was performed with 364 older individuals living in a nursing home who were admitted to three family health centers. Data were collected with personal information form, foot health problems form, foot care knowledge level form and foot care behavior scale. Independent samples t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn test were used to analyze the data. Results: Note that 70.6% of the older individuals were community-dwellers, 52.7% were women, 75% had chronic disease. The most common foot health problems in older individuals were dermatological problems (93.7%). These were identified as nail problems (82.4%), hallux valgus (20.6%), circulatory problems (26.9%) and sensation problems (30.5%). There were foot appearance problems in 60.7% of individuals, the most common of these problems were cracks (31.1%) and tinea pedis (22.8%). Almost all older individuals (91.8%) stated that foot health is important, 61.3% emphasized its importance in maintenance of walking/balance function. Moreover, 24.7% of the individuals had a foot examination before but only 7.7% received foot care education. More than 50% of the participants (57.7%) had inadequate foot hygiene. Care behavior differed depending on the education level and regular exercise. Conclusion: Older individuals have insufficient knowledge of foot health and foot health is a neglected issue.