Dataset Information

Developing an audit checklist to assess outdoor falls risk.

ABSTRACT: Falls by older people (aged 65+) are linked to disability and a decrease in mobility, presenting a challenge to active ageing. As such, older fallers represent a vulnerable road user group. Despite this there is little research into the causes and prevention of outdoor falls. This paper develops an understanding of environmental factors causing falls or fear of falling using a walk-along interview approach with recent fallers to explore how older people navigate the outdoor environment and which aspects of it they perceived facilitate or hinder their ability to go outdoors and fear of falling. While there are a number of audit checklists focused on assessing the indoor environment for risk or fear of falls, nothing exists for the outdoor environment. Many existing street audit tools are focused on general environmental qualities and have not been designed with an older population in mind. We present a checklist that assesses aspects of the environment most likely to encourage or hinder those who are at risk of falling outdoors, developed through accounting for the experiences and navigational strategies of elderly individuals. The audit checklist can assist occupational therapists and urban planners, designers and managers in working to reduce the occurrence of outdoor falls among this vulnerable user group.

SUBMITTER: Curl A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4818981 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Developing an audit checklist to assess outdoor falls risk.

Curl Angela A Thompson Catharine Ward CW Aspinall Peter P Ormerod Marcus M

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Urban design and planning 20160509 3

Falls by older people (aged 65+) are linked to disability and a decrease in mobility, presenting a challenge to active ageing. As such, older fallers represent a vulnerable road user group. Despite this there is little research into the causes and prevention of outdoor falls. This paper develops an understanding of environmental factors causing falls or fear of falling using a walk-along interview approach with recent fallers to explore how older people navigate the outdoor environment and which ...[more]

PMID: 27166968

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Project description:ObjectiveAlthough several falls risk assessment tools are available, it is unclear which have been validated and which would be most suitable for primary care practices. This systematic review aims to identify the most suitable falls risk assessment tool for the primary care setting (ie, requires limited time, no expensive equipment and no additional space) and that has good predictive performance in the assessment of falls risk among older people living independently.DesignA systematic review based on prospective studies.MethodsAn extensive search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane and PsycINFO. Tools were excluded if they required expensive and/or advanced software that is not usually available in primary care units and if they had not been validated in at least three different studies. Of 2492 articles published between January 2000 and July 2020, 27 were included.ResultsSix falls risk assessment tools were identified: Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, Gait Speed test, Berg Balance Scale, Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment, Functional Reach test and falls history. Most articles reported area under the curve (AUC) values ranging from 0.5 to 0.7 for these tools. Sensitivity and specificity varied substantially across studies (eg, TUG, sensitivity:10%-83.3%, specificity:28.4%-96.6%).ConclusionsGiven that none of the falls risk assessment tools had sufficient predictive performance (AUC <0.7), other ways of assessing high falls risk among independently living older people in primary care should be investigated. For now, the most suitable way to assess falls risk in the primary care setting appears to involve asking patients about their falls history. Compared with the other five tools, the falls history requires the least amount of time, no expensive equipment, no training and no spatial adjustments. The clinical judgement of healthcare professionals continues to be most important, as it enables the identification of high falls risk even for patients with no falls history.Trial registraion numberThe Netherlands Trial Register, NL7917; Pre-results.

Dataset Information

Developing an audit checklist to assess outdoor falls risk.

Publications

Developing an audit checklist to assess outdoor falls risk.

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