The Home Safety Self-Assessment Tool (HSSAT) is a resource aimed to reduce falls among older adults by identifying and addressing safety hazards in their homes.
Not a CDE – last searched 3/12/24
74 fall risk items
Approximately 30 minutes
Elderly Adult
65 +
yearsJoe Talbot, Jeremy Manlapaz, Natalie McCormack, & Monica Moy, UIC OTD Students under the direction of Sabrin Rizk PhD, OTR
Occupational Therapy Geriatric Group at the University of Buffalo
Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York
Community-dwelling older adults: (Tomita et al., 2014; n = 26; mean age = 75.6 (8.7); 73.1% female; 53.8% living with someone; 46.2% with history of falls; administered 2 weeks apart with the previous version of the HSSAT)
Community-dwelling older adults (calculated from Tomita et al., 2014)
Community-dwelling older adults: (Tomita et al., 2014; n = 26 older adults; n = 2 occupational therapists as Raters 1 & 2; n = 34 older adults with a history of falls within one year)
Community-dwelling older adults: (Tomita et al., 2014)
Community-dwelling older adults: (Tomita et al., 2014; n = 2 occupational therapists trained for home safety assessment using older adults’ homes; 5 older adults’ homes tested; home visits within 1 week apart)
Convergent validity:
Older adults with a history of falls: (Tomita et al., 2014; n = 34; mean age = 77.4 (9.8) years; 91.2% female; 47.1% living with someone; participants first assessed their home with the CDC Home Safety Checklist and later with the HSSAT booklet within 2 weeks)
Discriminant validity:
Older adults with a history of falls: (Tomita et al., 2014; n = 34)
Excellent correlation between HSSAT and the Fall Efficacy Scale (r = 0.103, p = 0.506)
Older adults (Tomita et al., 2014; n = 4 occupational therapists who are experts in geriatric and home safety; each rated fall risk items on a 4-point scale from 1 = not essential to 4 = highly essential)
Though not statistically assessed, the HSSAT has a good face validity as it can identify fall risks and can implement reductions of fall hazards in the home environment (Tomita et al. 2014).
Community-dwelling older adults: (Tomita et al., 2014; n = 104; mean age = 73.3 (9.5) years; 77.9% female; 56.7% living with someone; 51% with a history of falls; 4-week interval between pre- and post-test)
Cedar Midwest. (2017). Home Safety Self Assessment Tool (HSSAT) v.5.
Home Modification Information Clearinghouse (2020). Evidence Based Practice Review: Self-assessment tools of the person-environment fit. Sydney: Home Modification Information Clearinghouse, UNSW Sydney. (December) [online].
Home Safety Self Assessment Tool (HSSAT). homemods.org / NRCSHHM. (2021, November 15).
Horowitz, B. P., Almonte, T., & Vasil, A. (2016). Use of the Home Safety Self-Assessment Tool (HSSAT) Within Community Health Education to Improve Home Safety. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 30(4), 356–372.
Tomita, M. R., Saharan, S., Rajendran, S., Nochajski, S. M., & Schweitzer, J. A. (2014). Psychometrics of the Home Safety Self-Assessment Tool (HSSAT) to prevent falls in community-dwelling older adults. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(6), 711–718.
We have reviewed more than 500 instruments for use with a number of diagnoses including stroke, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury among several others.