Exploring how falls prevention practitioners assess and manage concerns about falling.

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.