Impact of a comprehensive falls prevention initiative on older adults and health care professionals

Step Up to Stop Falls™ is a falls prevention learning collaborative sponsored by the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York in seven counties in upstate New York. In each county, a coalition of community agencies coordinated a multidimensional initiative involving a variety of evidence-based fall prevention programming, including exercise, home assessment/modification, community education, and/or health care provider education. A cross-collaborative evaluation was conducted to evaluate the reach and impact of Step Up to Stop Falls™ activities over an 18-month period. Pre-post assessments examined the impact of the collaborative on fall-related outcomes. In all, 1018 older adults participated in exercise programs, 591 participated in home assessments, 464 participated in educational programs, and 183 health care providers engaged in provider education. Results indicate a significant improvement in Timed-Up-and-Go scores among exercise participants, and 60% of participants in home assessment programs resolved 100% of home hazards identified. Older adults who participated in educational programs demonstrated a significant increase in their belief that they could do things to reduce fall risk. Health care providers demonstrated a significant increase in the extent to which they agreed they could do things to reduce their patients' fall risk, and significant changes in their intent to initiate conversations about falls and to obtain falls history among their patients. This project demonstrates that a comprehensive multi-county initiative can be an effective way to implement evidence-based falls prevention strategies and reduce fall risk factors for older adults, as well as change health care providers' intentions to address falls.