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Activity tool 1. Use your sea legs in the bathroom!

Used with permission from the Régie Régionale de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal Centre, Programme Intégré d'Équilibre Dynamique (PIED).

• Page 1. Activity
• Page 2. Hands and knees method of standing up in a bathtub
• Page 3. Buyer’s Guide - Practical items for your bathroom
• Page 4. Checklist: “Do you use your sea legs in the bathroom?”
• Page 5. Illustration "Use your sea legs in the bathroom!"
• Page 6. Information for facilitators

Objectives

After completing this activity, participants will be able to:

1. Identify at least two ways of improving their bathroom safety
2. Enter and leave a bathtub safely, using appropriate technical supports

Required materials

• Illustration: “Hands and knees method of standing up in a bathtub”
• Buyer’s guide: “Practical items for your bathroom”
• Checklist: “Do you use your sea legs in the bathroom?”
• A bathtub for practicing transfers (if a bathtub is not available, use a few cardboard boxes or pictures).
• Illustration: “Use your sea legs in the bathroom!”

Meeting plan

Introduction

• Review of proper footwear
• Presentation of capsule topic

Activities

• The story of Mrs. Lucky
• Entering and exiting a bathtub safely

Conclusion

• Review of highlights
• Closing

Acknowledgements

Some of the illustrations were reprinted with the permission of the Association pour la santé et la sécurité au travail, secteur affaires sociales (ASSTSAS).

Introduction

Review of proper footwear

Ask participants whether they found any shoes in their closet that might be good candidates for a “lemon prize”? What have they done with them?

Presentation of capsule topic

Explain that the capsule is about things that every participant can do to improve their safety in a bathroom.

Activities

The story of Mrs. Lucky

Tell the story of Mrs. Lucky to explore unsafe behaviour and the dangers in a bathroom.

“Mrs. Lucky goes to the bathroom. As she nears the bathtub, she trips on a shag mat crinkled up on the floor. Luckily, she catches her balance and does not fall.

She fills the bathtub with hot water and pours in two capfuls of bath oil. Then, she drops her bathrobe on the mat and steps in the bathtub with a firm grip… on the towel bar. Luckily, the towel bar only bends. It doesn’t break.

After enjoying her hot bath, Mrs. Lucky decides to wash her hair. To lift herself up from the tub, she grabs on to the soap holder attached to the wall. Suddenly, the soap holder breaks off the wall. Luckily, she manages to stand up anyway.

Now that she’s standing, she realizes that she forgot to pull the plug to empty the tub. She leans over and hits her head on the faucet. Luckily, she manages to stay on her feet anyway and to pull the plug.

As she washes her hair under the shower, Mrs. Lucky feels dizzy. To regain her balance, she clutches the shower curtain, which rips under the strain. Luckily, the dizziness passes and she turns off the taps.

She leaves the bathtub. As she lifts one leg over the side of the tub, she slips on the oily bottom. Miraculously, she ends up sitting astride the side of the tub, safe and sound. She breathes a sigh of relief and stands up.

Once out of the tub, Mrs. Lucky stretches to reach for a towel. As she does, she catches her foot on the bathrobe lying on the floor. Unfortunately, Mrs. Lucky falls, flat on her face, on the bathroom floor.”

Participants’ advice to Mrs. Lucky

Ask participants for their help in identifying the risks that might cause Mrs. Lucky to fall and in coming up with alternatives (chart):

“What advice would you give Mrs. Lucky?”

Mrs. Lucky’s reservations

As participants try to identify alternatives, perform a role-play in which they have to convince Mrs. Lucky to change her behaviour and organize her bathroom differently. After each suggestion, she expresses her reservations. To get participants to respond, ask them:

“What would you say to convince Mrs. Lucky?”

The aim of these activities is to create “cognitive dissonance” in participants. More specifically, as they come up with arguments to convince Mrs. Lucky, participants may start to feel uncomfortable about their own unsafe behaviour. To resolve this contradiction, they may start practising the safe behaviors they recommended to Mrs. Lucky. This is the discomfort principle created by “do what I say and not what I do.”

Safely entering and exiting a bathtub

Remember that bathroom falls can be very dangerous and that entering and exiting a bathtub is a complicated task that demands a lot of balance.

Show participants how to enter and leave a bathtub safely and ask interested participants to practice the maneuver. If a bathtub is not available, give a demonstration.

Hand out the sheet on “Hands and feet method for standing up in a bathtub.”

Discuss the major items of bathtub safety devices using the buyer’s guide, “Practical items for your bathroom,” and hand out a copy to each participant.

Give the names of neighborhood dealers who sell or install grab bars.

Conclusion

Review of highlights

Hand out the illustration, “Use your sea legs in the bathroom!” and the checklist, “Do you use your sea legs in the bathroom?” Remind participants about the most important bathroom safety rules:

• install proper non-skid mats
• use safety supports (for example, wall-mounted grab bars)
• use a safe technique for entering and exiting the bathtub

Closing

Congratulate participants for the good advice they gave to Mrs. Lucky and encourage them to apply the same principles themselves in their own bathrooms.

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