Fall Prevention for Seniors

The health promotion opportunity I would like to pursue for my Health Promotion learning journey is the promotion of exercise to lower the number of falls among seniors. This is a topic I am familiar with as I work with seniors and we also offer fall prevention classes in my organization. However, I find that we could do even more for fall prevention promotion. Falls should not be a normal part of aging. Falls are the leading injury cause for seniors in Canada. They lead to 85% of hospitalizations and 2 billion in direct healthcare costs (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2021).

There are so many ways we can prevent falls. The course we offer is often not challenging enough for the targeted population. We offer a course that was designed in Quebec named Stand-up (Fall Prevention: Stand-Up, 2024). This class was chosen as we mostly offer it in French and all the information is available in both languages since it was developed in Quebec. The course is for seniors aged 65 years or older and has a physical exercise component as well as some information sessions. It is designed for those who still live independently at home. Oftentimes, those coming into our classes decide to quit as they do not find the course challenging enough and do not see improvements in their physical conditions. 

I’m anxious to learn about different fall prevention promotion initiatives that exist to potentially be able to offer something better for our clients. My personal learning goals include learning about the existing literature on the topic to see what is considered to be effective fall prevention promotion. I also want to learn how to target the population who needs it the most and to motivate them to remain active to lower the risks of falls. 

I think what will be the most challenging as I pursue my health promotion topic will be to be able to compare existing studies. Most fall prevention promotion strategies can be beneficial. If we think about it, unless the information is falsified, any promotion can have a few benefits. However, I would like to see what can be the most beneficial for seniors as well as health promoters. Which health promotion strategy is worth putting in time, effort and money? I think this may be the most challenging part: to see where there are the most benefits.

Reference

Fall Prevention: Stand-Up. (2024, January 16). Québec. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://santemontreal.qc.ca/en/public/support-and-services/fall-prevention-stand-up/

Public Health Agency of Canada. (2021, November 9). Seniors’ falls in Canada - infographic. Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/aging-seniors/publications/publications-general-public/seniors-falls-canada-second-report/seniors-falls-canada-infographic.html