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Australian J Rural Health - 2025 - Mudholkar - Student‐Led Falls Prevention Program for Community‐Dwelling Older Adults in1.93 MB
Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Student-Led Falls Prevention Program for Community-Dwelling Older Adults in a Rural Community: A Pilot Study
Australian Journal of Rural Health, Vol.33(1), pp.1-12
2025
PMID: 39781589
Abstract
Introduction
A third of community-dwelling adults over the age of 65 years fall each year, making falls a significant concern for the elderly. Older people living in community-dwellings account for 73% of fall-related hospitalisations in older populations. Little is known about identifying, reaching at-risk people, and delivering these interventions in rural communities.
Objective
Our aim was two-fold.
To test the utility of a student-led program in identifying community-dwelling elderly people at high risk for falls in a rural and remote setting.
To determine client satisfaction with the falls prevention program.
Setting
Rural and remote community settings in Queensland, Australia.
Participants
Forty community-dwelling older adults from the MMM 4 and 6 regions.
Design
This pilot study utilised a cross-sectional design and convenience sampling approach. A validated falls risk self-reported checklist and a screening checklist for general practitioners were used to identify older adults at risk of falling. During the home visit, participants were assessed for their cognition, balance and home safety. A client satisfaction survey was completed via telephone 3 months following the home visits.
Results
Several risk factors for falls were identified, including unsafe use of equipment, absence of Medi alerts, insufficient supervision, lack of support, inappropriate footwear, behavioural concerns and environmental hazards. Most participants reported that the home assessment was valuable and made their homes safer.
Conclusion
An innovative student-led placement model has the potential to provide much-needed access to falls prevention services and minimise falls among community-dwelling older adults in rural and remote locations.
Details
- Title
- Student-Led Falls Prevention Program for Community-Dwelling Older Adults in a Rural Community: A Pilot Study
- Authors
- Asmita Mudholkar (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - Occupational TherapyStephanie Burke - Centre for Rural and Remote Mental HealthKehinde Obamiro - James Cook University
- Publication details
- Australian Journal of Rural Health, Vol.33(1), pp.1-12
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1111/ajr.13221
- ISSN
- 1440-1584; 1038-5282
- PMID
- 39781589
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). Australian Journal of Rural Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of National Rural Health Alliance Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Data Availability
- The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
- Grant note
- This study was supported by the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) program of the Australian Government Department of Health.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Occupational Therapy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991103245302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
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- Nursing
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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