240742 Evaluation of a community-based falls prevention program in South Florida

Monday, October 31, 2011

Anamika Batra, BDS, MPH , Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, FIU Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Miami, FL
Michael A. Melchior, MPH , Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, FIU Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Miami, FL
Laura R. Seff, MBA , Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, FIU Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Miami, FL
Frederick Newman, PhD , Department of Health Policy and Management, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
Richard Palmer, DrPH , Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, FIU Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Miami, FL
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.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
To evaluate the implementation of both MOB and ADE in uncontrolled community settings of South Florida To evaluate the effectiveness of both programs in South Florida To describe the impact of fear of falls on older adults and an intervention that improves their quality of life overall

Keywords: Community-Based Health Promotion, Elderly

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a dentist who completed master’s degree in public health from Florida International University, Miami, FL. I have been working on this project since January 2010. I am mainly involved with the data verification and data analysis part of the research which provides me with complete insight to this study and makes me a qualified presenter.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.