A primary falls prevention programme for older people in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study describes the development and implementation of a large-scale primary fall and fracture prevention programme in Hong Kong and its effect on increasing the awareness and knowledge of fall and fracture prevention among older people. The effect of promotion of community participation is also investigated in the implementation of this primary prevention programme. The programme includes educational seminars, a train-the-trainers programme and a staff training programme. The effect of the educational seminars is shown by the increase in the knowledge and awareness of fall and fracture prevention among these participants (p < 0.01), while that of the train-the-trainers programme and staff-training programme is confirmed by the continuous expansion and continuation of the fall and fracture prevention programme in the community. The experience from this primary prevention programme has given us direction for future implementation of a more comprehensive prevention programme in our community.

Fall risk in Chinese community‐dwelling older adults: A physiological profile assessment study

“…The low fall rate might also be due to recent strategies in Hong Kong, such as the “Primary Falls Prevention Program for Older People,” that are aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge of fall and fracture prevention among older adults. Launched in 2001, the aforementioned program provides educational seminars for the elderly, a train‐the‐trainers program, and a staff training program for volunteers and staff …”

'They will tell me if there is a problem': limited discussion between health professionals, older adults and their caregivers on falls prevention during and after hospitalization

“…Theoretical models, such as the Health Belief Model, have previously been used to aid delivery of falls prevention information to older adults in a way that promoted their participation in falls prevention activities [8,9]. Recent studies have found that patient education can increase awareness and knowledge of fall risks and falls prevention strategies and an educational program based upon the Health Belief Model which prompted behavioral change reduced falls in hospitalized older adults [10][11][12]. Given that older hospitalized patients have poor awareness of falls prevention strategies, it is important to know how and from whom they and their caregivers receive information about falls risk factors and prevention strategies.…”

Trained volunteers to support chronically ill, multimorbid elderly between hospital and domesticity – a systematic review of one-on-one-intervention types, effects, and underlying training concepts

“…Target groups of these initiatives currently include those with several chronic conditions [33–40], diabetes [41–43], heart failure [44], hypertension [45, 46], stroke [47, 48], myocardial infarction [49], cancer [50–52], asthma [53], limb loss [54], or chronic obstructive disease [55]. Further, volunteers offer physical activation [56–61] or fall prevention [62–66] services in the community, that are predominantly group based, too. In addition, there are community-based approaches in which volunteers promote cardiovascular health awareness [67–72], encourage individuals to increase cancer-screening rates [73–76], or support persons with dementia and their relatives at home [77, 78].…”