Evaluation of a community-based falls prevention program in South Florida

Background: Research indicates that as many as half of community-dwelling older adults experience fear of falling, which may reduce participation in routine activities. A Matter of Balance (MOB) and Un Asunto de Equilibrio (ADE) workshops were offered to 958 older adults in South Florida between October 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 to reduce fear of falling and increase activity levels.

Methods: Workshops were conducted in English (MOB) and Spanish (ADE) over eight two-hour sessions. Participants completed a seven-item questionnaire pre-and post-intervention. Three outcome measures; Falls Management Scale, a Social Activity Item and modified version of Physician-Based Assessment and Counseling on Exercise were used to measure an individual's self-perceived ability to manage actual falls or risk of falls, level of social activity and readiness to exercise respectively. General linear model was used to assess the difference between pre- and post- measures. A class evaluation survey was also administered during the final session.

Results: Pre-post intervention outcome measures showed significant improvement across the seven questionnaire items (p<0.01). The highest aggregate difference (Δx̄ = 0.98, p<0.01) was seen for increasing reported activity levels. Analysis of class evaluation surveys revealed that all respondents either “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that the program was effective, beneficial and well organized.

Conclusion: HARC was able to implement MOB and ADE successfully in the community settings by use of lay leaders. All program goals were achieved. Further analysis of the impact of covariates and moderator variables on outcomes and predictive factors is needed.