Student-Led Falls Prevention Program for Community-Dwelling Older Adults in a Rural Community: A Pilot Study
Mudholkar, Asmita, Burke, Stephanie, and Obamiro, Kehinde (2025) Student-Led Falls Prevention Program for Community-Dwelling Older Adults in a Rural Community: A Pilot Study. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 33 (1). e13221.
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Abstract
Introduction: A third of community-dwelling adults over the age of 65 years fall each year, making falls a significant concern for the elderly. Older people living in community-dwellings account for 73% of fall-related hospitalisations in older populations. Little is known about identifying, reaching at-risk people, and delivering these interventions in rural communities. Objective: Our aim was two-fold. To test the utility of a student-led program in identifying community-dwelling elderly people at high risk for falls in a rural and remote setting. To determine client satisfaction with the falls prevention program. Setting: Rural and remote community settings in Queensland, Australia. Participants: Forty community-dwelling older adults from the MMM 4 and 6 regions. Design: This pilot study utilised a cross-sectional design and convenience sampling approach. A validated falls risk self-reported checklist and a screening checklist for general practitioners were used to identify older adults at risk of falling. During the home visit, participants were assessed for their cognition, balance and home safety. A client satisfaction survey was completed via telephone 3 months following the home visits. Results: Several risk factors for falls were identified, including unsafe use of equipment, absence of Medi alerts, insufficient supervision, lack of support, inappropriate footwear, behavioural concerns and environmental hazards. Most participants reported that the home assessment was valuable and made their homes safer. Conclusion: An innovative student-led placement model has the potential to provide much-needed access to falls prevention services and minimise falls among community-dwelling older adults in rural and remote locations.
| Item ID: | 88323 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1440-1584 |
| Keywords: | home assessments, occupational therapy, placement model, primary health care, service-learning |
| Copyright Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Australian Journal of Rural Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of National Rural Health Alliance Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Apr 2026 05:27 |
| FoR Codes: | 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420321 Rural and remote health services @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 20 HEALTH > 2005 Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) > 200508 Rural and remote area health @ 100% |
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