Health Services Research Commons^™

Older Adults' Perceptions Of Clinical Fall Prevention Programs: A Qualitative Study, Rebecca Calhoun, Hendrika Meischke, Kristen Hammerback, Alex Bohl, Pamela Poe, Barbara Williams, Elizabeth A. Phelan

Public Health and Nutrition Faculty work

Objective: To investigate motivational factors and barriers to participating in fall risk assessment and management programs among diverse, low-income, community-dwelling older adults who had experienced a fall.

Methods: Face-to-face interviews with 20 elderly who had accepted and 19 who had not accepted an invitation to an assessment by one of two fall prevention programs. Interviews covered healthy aging, core values, attributions/consequences of the fall, and barriers/benefits of fall prevention strategies and programs.

Results: Joiners and nonjoiners of fall prevention programs were similar in their experience of loss associated with aging, core values they expressed, and emotional response to falling. One …