Falls, concerns about falling and falls prevention

Falls are a major public health issue, with one-third of people aged 65+ falling each year.

HARG has been at the forefront of research in falls prevention since the early 2000s, leading the EC-funded Prevention of Falls Network Europe (ProFaNE) and Prevention of Falls Network for Dissemination (ProFouND) projects.

We have also participated in a number of other EC-funded projects, as well as leading and participating in numerous projects funded by UK charities, the Department of Health, the NHS and NIHR.

Core to our work is the understanding of the epidemiology and aetiology of falls in the community, including investigating risk factors and development of effective interventions to prevent falls.

We are especially interested in strength and balance-based activity/exercise interventions such as FaME or OTAGO, where there is a strong evidence base for effectiveness and how to ensure such evidence is implemented in practice to provide benefit to the population.

Over recent years, we have developed research into the use of mHealth and eHealth approaches to predict, detect, monitor and prevent falls as an alternative to traditional face-to-face approaches.

We have a strong interest in the measurement of concerns about falling, having led the original development of the Falls Efficacy Scale – International (FES-I) and hosting the FES-I website to facilitate its clinical and research use. The further development of FES-I and providing evidence of its utility remains an important theme for ongoing projects.

Our methodological approaches include quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods designs as appropriate, as well as systematic reviewing of evidence.

Current projects

Many of our projects relating to physical activity and exercise are funded through and conducted via the NIHR Greater Manchester Applied Research Collaboration Healthy Ageing Theme.

• Evaluation of the Greater Manchester Falls Lifting Pilot Service
• Exergaming interventions for preventing falls in older people: A systematic review
• Falls in Care Homes (FinCH) National Implementation Study
• The FLEXI Implementation and Cost Analysis Study
• Keep On Keep Up (KOKU): Developing & implementing a digital falls prevention & healthy ageing technology with older adults
• Understanding older South Asian perceptions of digital health technologies for exercise & falls prevention and testing a translated and adapted Keep On Keep Up (KOKU) digital application
• Development and evaluation of a digital health programme for falls prevention and to improve well-being in people living with dementia in the community
• Standing Tall-er
• Evaluating fall prevention services across Cambridgeshire
• Using Smartphone TechnolOGy to Support an EffecTive Home ExeRcise Intervention to Prevent Falls amongst Community-Dwelling Older Adults: TOGETHER

Resources

View resources relevant to falls, concerns about falling and falls prevention.