Falls Prevention Evaluation and Development for Older Adults in the Community

Overview

Exercise-based fall prevention programmes with strength and balance components have been shown to reduce the rate of falls, risk of falling, fractures and injuries. However, there is little evidence on the implementation of these programmes in real-world settings. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of exercise-based fall prevention interventions on fall risk (physical performance and fear of falling) among community-dwelling older adults who are at risk of falling in Singapore. A secondary aim is to assess the effectiveness of the programme on other health outcomes. The study will also evaluate the programme implementation from 3 perspectives of older adults, implementers and community partners.

Two exercise-based fall prevention programmes (Otago Exercise Programme, OEP and the Stepping On Programme, SOP) have been shown to be effective to prevent and reduce falls in primarily non-Asian settings. The Otago Exercise Programme is a single component intervention that has been shown to reduce fall rate among older adults by 35%. The OEP is a group-based exercise programme based on strength and balance components. The Stepping-On Programme is a multi-component intervention that has been shown to reduce fall rate by 30%. The SOP consists of group-based series of weekly sessions to teach fall prevention strategies to community-dwelling older adults. Sessions comprise of strength-balance exercises and classes based on adult learning principles. However, there is little evidence of the effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of locally-adapted community fall prevention interventions. Furthermore, studies on the effectiveness of fall prevention interventions among Asian populations are less robust due to the lack of well-designed studies with adequately powered sample sizes. In this study, exercise-based fall prevention programmes will be implemented based on geographic region where participants living in the North region will receive the modified SOP and participants in the Central region will receive the modified OEP.