Prioritizing mobility factors for assessment during the transition of older adults from hospital to home: a cross-sectional survey of physiotherapists in Southeastern Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

Assessing all factors influencing older adults' mobility during the hospital-to-home transition is not feasible given the complex and time-sensitive nature of hospital discharge processes.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the mobility factors that Nigerian physiotherapists prioritize to be assessed during hospital-to-home transition of older adults and explore the differences in the prioritization of mobility factors across the physiotherapists' demographics and practice variables.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 121 physiotherapists who completed an online questionnaire, ranking 74 mobility factors using a nine-point Likert scale. A factor was prioritized if ≥ 70% of physiotherapists rated the factor as "Critical" (scores ≥7) and ≤ 15% of physiotherapists rated a factor as "Not Important" (scores ≤3). We assessed the differences in the prioritization of mobility factors across the physiotherapists' demographics/practice variables using Mann Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests.

FINDINGS: Forty-three of 74 factors were prioritized: four cognitive, two environmental, one financial, four personal, eighteen physical, seven psychological, and seven social factors. Males and those with self-reported expertise in each mobility determinants more frequently rated factors as critical.

CONCLUSION

Prioritizing many mobility factors underscores the complex nature of mobility, suggesting that an interdisciplinary approach to addressing these factors may enhance post-hospital discharge mobility outcomes.