Educational Interventions to Reduce Concerns About Falling, Falls and Associated Outcomes Among Older Adults
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Interactive Fall Prevention Education, Printed Educational Materials.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Concerns About Falling, Falls, Fall Prevention. Basic parameters: from 60 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Brazil
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Effectiveness of Educational Interventions to Reduce Concerns About Falling, Falls and Associated Outcomes Among Older Adults: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Overview
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if an active educational intervention (using interactive and active methods of teaching) works better than the traditional lecture teaching to reduce concerns of falling, falls and other health problems among older adults. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does having more dynamic interactive educational interventions can performed better than using just traditional lectures? Are these interventions able to reduce concerns of falling, fears and other outcomes among older adults? Participants will: Receive one of the interventions (active/interactive or traditional lecture) Answer self-report questionnaires related to concerns of falls and falls Perform some fall-related tests Be followed for 3 and 6 months
Detailed description
Previous studies and meta-analyses have shown that educational strategies for fall prevention are still underexplored and have produced inconsistent results, possibly due to the limited use of appropriate educational methods and approaches that effectively change older adults' perceptions and behaviors related to falls.
This study aims to investigate the effects of a six-week educational intervention using active learning methodologies on concern about falling in community-dwelling older adults compared to a control group. Our secondary objectives are to evaluate whether the educational intervention reduces fall events and near-fall events and improves knowledge and awareness related to fall prevention in older adults.
This is a randomized, parallel-group trial in which participants will be allocated to either an interactive educational intervention group (active methods of teaching) or a control group receiving the same educational content through printed materials and a lecture on general healthy aging.
Follow-up assessments will be conducted immediately after the intervention period (6 weeks), and at 3 months and 6 months after the intervention. Falls and near-falls will be monitored throughout the follow-up period using follow-up contacts.
Interventions
- Behavioral Interactive Fall Prevention Education
Arm/Group Experimental: Interactive Fall Prevention Education Arm Description: The intervention will be carried out in groups of 12 to 17 participants. There will be six educational sessions (delivered once a week) focusing on the following fall prevention topics: (1) impact of falls and aging-related changes; (2) identification of fall risk and protective factors; (3) home safety and environmental modifications; (4) fall prevention strategies; (5) concern about falling and what to do after a fa - Behavioral Printed Educational Materials
The control group will receive a lecture on general healthy aging (not related to falls) and printed educational leaflets covering the same six fall prevention topics addressed in the interactive educational intervention, including fall risk factors, home safety, prevention strategies, and what to do after a fall. The educational content will be delivered only through printed materials and not through interactive sessions.
Primary outcome measures
- Concern about Falling [Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months]
Secondary outcome measures (6)
- Proportion of participants with at least one fall [Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months]
- Number of Falls [Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months]
- Knowledge about fall prevention [Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months]
- Fall risk awareness [Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months]
- Number of near-falls [Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months]
- Proportion of participants with at least one near-fall [Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Participants with 60 years old or older
- At least one fall in the previous 12 months.
- A minimum score for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) according to educational level: Illiterate: 13, 1 to 7 years of schooling: 18, More than 7 years of schooling: 26
Exclusion criteria
- MMSE score below the minimum cutoff for educational level.
- Current participation in regular physical therapy treatment.
- Presence of severe neurological, motor, and/or visual impairments that may interfere with participation in the study.
- Refusal or inability to provide informed consent
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
Brazil · 1 center
- School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora — Juiz de Fora
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07515053 · UFJF-EDU-FALLS-26