Occupational Therapy Fall Prevention Interventions for Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review

Abstract

These findings can inform the delivery and integration of fall prevention interventions from acute care to community discharge.

Comparison of a group-delivered and individually delivered lifestyle-integrated functional exercise (LiFE) program in older persons: a randomized noninferiority trial

“…The most recent Cochrane systematic review on the topic had already found 159 trials with 79,193 participants back in 2012 [ 10 ], and concluded that multiple component group exercise and home-based exercise as well as home safety interventions reduce rate of falls and risk of falling. This is in line with other systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which found multifactorial interventions including exercise to be most effective, with exercise as a single intervention showing significant effects as well [ 67 – 69 ]. However, another recent Cochrane review showed that the majority of these multifactorial and multiple component studies are of low quality with unclear or high risk of bias [ 70 ].…”

“…Due to the high relevance and socioeconomic impact of falls in the older population, it is not surprising that numerous attempts based on various approaches have been made to reduce falls and fall-related consequences. The overall goal behind this is to optimize individual health trajectories in the aging process, which can be achieved by ensuring that community-dwelling older people receive high-quality, evidence-based fall prevention services [ 67 ]. Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted in the field to identify best possible intervention measures, with somewhat diverse target groups and focusing on different intervention approaches.…”

“…The LiFE program—as an exercise approach focused on the modification of individuals’ behaviour—has shown its effectiveness in a large randomised controlled trial, and it has been explicitly recommended for implementation as part of therapy practice to reduce fall risk in one of the aforementioned systematic reviews [ 67 ]. LiFE has shown its superiority relative to placebo and structured exercise [ 29 ], so assuming that LiFE is effective, the next step would be to look at its suitability for the recommended implementation on a large scale.…”

Occupational Therapy Interventions for Productive Aging Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

“…This article provided an example of how to apply evidence from systematic reviews on productive aging to inform and guide clinical decision making (Berger et al, 2018;Elliott & Leland, 2018;Hunter & Kearney, 2018;Liu et al, 2018;Smallfield & Lucas Molitor, 2018a, 2018b. For further evidence-based information on productive aging, see the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA's) Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Productive…”

The Occupational Therapy Approach to Addressing Food Insecurity among Older Adults with Chronic Disease

“…Occupational therapy practitioners can teach strategies and establish reminders to label food and exercise safe, proper storage practices. Self-feeding may be resolved educating on the use of adaptive equipment such as scoop bowl/plate, built up utensil handles, or a rocker knife [45]; and fall risk interventions may be tailored to address fall prevention in the kitchen and during food-related activities [46,47]. Occupational therapy practitioners can assess and treat eating and swallowing difficulties by addressing oral–motor skills, bolus management, or dysphagia [48].…”