The incidence of falls among elderly inpatients with psychiatric disorders is on the rise. A lack of adequate physical activity and a sedentary lifestyle have become prevalent among hospitalized elderly patients. Balance training has been demonstrated to be efficacious in reducing the occurrence of falls, yet its application within psychiatric care remains limited.

To explore the effect of balance intensive training on balance ability of hospitalized elderly patients with schizophrenia.

Seventy-two elderly patients with schizophrenia from a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Jiangxi Province were selected as objects for this research in 2023. Participants were randomly assigned into experimental group (n=36) and control group (n=36). The control group received standard rehabilitation training, whereas the experimental group was provided with a balance-strengthening training program in addition to the standard regimen. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the Chinese version of the Barthel Index (BI), and the International Falls Effectiveness Scale (FES-I) were utilized to assess patients at baseline and after 4 and 12 weeks of intervention.

A total of 62 patients completed the study, with 30 in the experimental group and 32 in the control group. Two-factor repeated measurement ANOVA showed that there was interaction between group and time on BBS and BI scores (P<0.05), group had significant main effect on BBS scores (P<0.05), but had no significant effect on BI scores (P>0.05), and time had significant effect on BBS and BI scores (P<0.05). After 12 weeks of intervention, the BBS and BI scores of experimental group were higher than those of control group (P<0.05). Intra-group comparison showed that the BBS and BI scores of the experimental group were higher at 4 weeks of intervention than before intervention, and the BBS and BI scores after 12 weeks of intervention were higher than before intervention and 4 weeks of intervention, with statistical significance (P<0.05). Group and time had interaction effects on the total score of FES-I and indoor and outdoor activity scores (P<0.05). The main effect on FES-I indoor activity score was significant (P<0.05), but the main effect on FES-I total score and outdoor activity score was not significant (P>0.05). The main effects of time on the total score of FES-I and indoor and outdoor activity scores were significant (P<0.05). After 12 weeks of intervention, the total score of FES-I and indoor and outdoor activity scores of experimental groups were higher than those of control group (P<0.05). Intra-group comparison showed that the total score of FES-I and indoor and outdoor activity scores of experimental groups were higher than before intervention at 4 weeks (P<0.05) ; the total score of FES-I and indoor and outdoor activity scores at 12 weeks of intervention were higher than those before and after 4 weeks of intervention (P<0.05) .

Implementing a balance-strengthening training program among elderly inpatients with schizophrenia can lead to significant improvements in balance, self-care, and fall self-efficacy, thereby potentially reducing the risk of falls.