Older People's Views about Community Falls Prevention: An Australian Perspective

Although targets have been set for the establishment of falls prevention services, little is known about the views of older people in respect of such initiatives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives of the older participants in a community group falls prevention programme in Australia and to explore their views about the most and least useful aspects of the programme, using methods deriving from a grounded theory approach.

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with nine women and two men who had attended a falls prevention programme. The multifaceted intervention comprised seven weekly meetings of 2 hours each. The key principle underpinning the programme was enhancement of self-efficacy.

Four themes were identified through qualitative analysis: identity (focusing on participants as active elders); the salience of interventions (or the meaning attributed to different programme components); the social experience (the views about group interaction); and the consequences of participation. The participants were very positive about their experience of the programme and described a range of psychological and physical outcomes.

A decrease in the likelihood of a fall did not feature prominently in these interviews. It may be more meaningful to older people to embed falls prevention within a wider context of wellbeing and independence.