Innovating safety in homecare: Older adults’ experiences of a novel falls prevention program delivered by trained homecare workers
Date and Time
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Theme / Track
Service delivery, workforce and reform
Presentation Format
Poster Presentation
Older adults receiving care support at home fall twice as often as their age-matched peers, with less than a third referred to community falls prevention programs. Guidelines recommend all older adults receive education and exercise to prevent falls. This study aimed to explore older adults’ perspectives on undertaking a novel falls prevention program delivered by trained homecare workers.
A prospective pre-post intervention study was conducted at a Western Australian homecare organisation. A personalised program of weekly falls education using novel safety messages (cards and video) and exercises were delivered by trained homecare workers for 12-weeks, followed by a 12-week maintenance period. Participants were surveyed (custom questionnaire) at baseline, 12-weeks and 24-weeks. Deductive qualitative content analysis was undertaken.
Sixty-nine older adults participated in the program finding it relevant, enjoyable, inclusive and beneficial. Participants liked the personalised, practical easy to understand resources stating - “Older people like to understand why we are being asked to do something”. Key learnings included recognising falls - “I hadn’t realised I had been falling so much! I thought a fall was when you landed on the floor and got injured”, understanding their personal falls risk factors and the importance of balance exercises for fall prevention. Many implemented prevention strategies like turning on the light if getting up at night, pausing when changing position and continuing on with their exercises post program. Findings showed that a homecare worker delivered falls prevention program was able to translate learning into action assisting older adults to remain safe at home.
Keywords
Community, Enablement / Reablement, Falls / Fall Prevention, Home Care, Meaningful Engagement
Authors
Dr Jacqueline Francis-Coad
Mrs Vanessa Jessup
Dr Cheng Yen Loo
Mr Bernie Wong
Professor Anne-Marie Hill