Table 1.
Summary of participant characteristics
| Field | Variable | N (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | Sex | Female | 20 (74) |
| Male | 7 (26) | ||
| Age | < 60 | 5 (19) | |
| 60–64 | 1 (4) | ||
| 65–69 | 5 (19) | ||
| 70–74 | 5 (19) | ||
| 75–79 | 7 (26) | ||
| 80–84 | 2 (7) | ||
| 85–89 | 1 (4) | ||
| > = 90 | 1 (4) | ||
| Fall history and fear of falling | Experienced fall in previous year | Yes | 14 (52) |
| No | 13 (48) | ||
| Number of falls in previous year | 0 | 13 (48) | |
| 1 | 6 (22) | ||
| 2 | 4 (15) | ||
| 3+ | 4 (15) | ||
| Whether fall(s) required medical attentiona (% among fallers) | Yes | 8 (57) | |
| No | 6 (43) | ||
| Fall resulted in fracture (% among fallers) | Yes | 3 (21) | |
| How worried are you about falling while walking or balancing? | 1 Never | 4 (15) | |
| 2 Hardly | 5 (19) | ||
| 3 Sometimes | 11 (41) | ||
| 4 Often | 4 (15) | ||
| 5 All the time | 3 (11) | ||
| Current physical activity level | Currently engaged in some exercise group/activityb | Yes | 19 (70) |
| No | 8 (30) | ||
| History of falls risk screening | Whether spoken to a GP or other professionals about risk of falling in previous year | Yes | 11 (41) |
| No | 16 (59) | ||
| If yes, where was it? (% among Yes for previous question) | GP | 5 (45) | |
| Social care | 0 (0) | ||
| Falls clinic | 3 (27) | ||
| A&E | 0 (0) | ||
| Hospital | 2 (18) | ||
| Other | 1 (9) | ||
| Falls prevention service use in past year | Type of falls prevention service usec | Physiotherapy | 12 |
| Occupational therapy | 1 | ||
| HAM | 4 | ||
| Medication change | 0 | ||
| Vision surgery | 5 | ||
| Vit D supplement | 6 | ||
| Assistive device | 7 | ||
| Footwear change | 6 | ||
| Falls education | 12 |
Acronym: HAM home assessment and modification
a At least GP visit
b Suggested options were Chairobics, Pilates, dancing, swimming and group walks with additional space for participants to state other exercise/physical activity types
c The list of services was taken from Cochrane systematic review of falls prevention trials [9]. However, the questionnaire did not explicitly label these services as falls prevention interventions in order to invite responses from participants who may have received a multi-purpose service (e.g., physiotherapy or vitamin D supplementation) without awareness of its falls prevention property. Overall, 21 participants (78%) indicated use of one or more service