Interprofessional falls prevention in community settings: Older adults’ perspectives through a socioecological lens
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Objectives Falls among community-dwelling older adults are a global public health concern. Although falls prevention care relies on collaboration between medical and allied health professionals, older adults’ experiences and perspectives of interprofessional care remain underexplored. This research therefore explored the perspectives and experiences of primary falls prevention care, in order to identify what care is occurring in practice, where preventative opportunities may be missed and how older adults would prefer falls-prevention care to be delivered. Design Ǫualitative exploratory study with a pragmatic orientation and utilising focus groups for data collection. Data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, with themes developed iteratively and subsequently interpreted through the lens of the Socioecological Model to develop a consumer-informed socioecological framework for community falls prevention care. Setting Three metropolitan (Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane) and two regional centres (Woodend, Wagga Wagga) in Australia. Participants Thirty-six older adults participated across five focus groups. Results Four themes were identified: knowledge of allied health and falls prevention, access to care, co-ordination of care, and when and how to provide care. Each theme reflected interacting influences across socioecological levels, demonstrating the complexity of older adults’ engagement in falls prevention. Conclusions Despite strong support for preventative care, participants’ experiences were frequently consumer-driven, reactive and fragmented. Limited knowledge of falls and allied health, unclear access pathways, and inadequate coordination of care, shaped by organisational and policy contexts, were identified as key barriers. System- level reform that embeds falls prevention and allied health within routine care and aligns funding, coordination mechanisms and public health strategies to deliver equitable, sustainable prevention are required. Strengths and limitations of this study • This qualitative focus group study provides novel consumer insight into older adults’ experiences of allied health engagement in interprofessional community- based falls prevention care. • The application of a socioecological framework enabled interpretation of falls prevention care across individual, interpersonal, community, organisational and broader system levels. • Inclusion of participants from diverse health service contexts enhances the transferability of findings, however, the findings may not be generalisable to all contexts and may reflect the views of older adults who were sufficiently engaged in healthcare to participate.
Source: medRxiv
Language: English
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7168339094