Exploring how falls prevention practitioners assess and manage concerns about falling
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Published version
Author(s)
Nicklen, Bianca
Delbaere, Kim
Ellmers, Toby
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Concerns about falling (CaF) are common in older adults. They can lead to various negative outcomes, including an increased risk for future falls. The Worlds Falls Guidelines recently published recommendations for assessing and treating CaF. However, the extent to which these guidelines have been adopted into falls prevention practice (in addition to the barriers preventing implementation) are currently unknown.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey was completed by 114 healthcare professionals working in falls prevention and rehabilitation services in the UK and Ireland. The survey explored their experiences and perceptions regarding the management and assessment of CaF.
Results
Only 39% of respondents reported using the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I), a tool recommended by the World Falls Guidelines for assessing CaF. Healthcare professionals in hospital settings were significantly less likely to use the FES-I compared to those working in the community (X2 = 6.324, p = 0.043). While there was no significant difference between settings regarding the type of intervention used to manage CaF, only about 50% of participants adopted a holistic approach combining physical and psychological strategies as recommended by the World Falls Guidelines. The most commonly identified barriers to clinical management of CaF were a lack of both time and perceived effective interventions, particularly for those working within hospital settings (X2 = 6.209, p = 0.013 and X2 = 3.752, p = 0.053, respectively).
Conclusion
These findings indicate low levels of adoption of the World Falls Guidelines recommendations for assessing and managing CaF, especially in hospital settings. Future work should focus on addressing these barriers to maximise the clinical adoption of these recommendations.
Concerns about falling (CaF) are common in older adults. They can lead to various negative outcomes, including an increased risk for future falls. The Worlds Falls Guidelines recently published recommendations for assessing and treating CaF. However, the extent to which these guidelines have been adopted into falls prevention practice (in addition to the barriers preventing implementation) are currently unknown.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey was completed by 114 healthcare professionals working in falls prevention and rehabilitation services in the UK and Ireland. The survey explored their experiences and perceptions regarding the management and assessment of CaF.
Results
Only 39% of respondents reported using the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I), a tool recommended by the World Falls Guidelines for assessing CaF. Healthcare professionals in hospital settings were significantly less likely to use the FES-I compared to those working in the community (X2 = 6.324, p = 0.043). While there was no significant difference between settings regarding the type of intervention used to manage CaF, only about 50% of participants adopted a holistic approach combining physical and psychological strategies as recommended by the World Falls Guidelines. The most commonly identified barriers to clinical management of CaF were a lack of both time and perceived effective interventions, particularly for those working within hospital settings (X2 = 6.209, p = 0.013 and X2 = 3.752, p = 0.053, respectively).
Conclusion
These findings indicate low levels of adoption of the World Falls Guidelines recommendations for assessing and managing CaF, especially in hospital settings. Future work should focus on addressing these barriers to maximise the clinical adoption of these recommendations.
Date Issued
2025-02-01
Date Acceptance
2024-11-21
Citation
European Geriatric Medicine, 2025, 16 (1), pp.219-227
ISSN
1878-7649
Publisher
Springer
Start Page
219
End Page
227
Journal / Book Title
European Geriatric Medicine
Volume
16
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1007/s41999-024-01127-2
Subjects
Concerns about falling
Older adults
Falls prevention
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2024-12-17