Abstract
Aims
Fall hazards identification and reduction is an important component of falls prevention. The purpose of this review is to describe the literature on fall hazards identification in older adults, characterize how it is delivered, and identify any gaps in knowledge.
Method
CINHAL, PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and PsychINFO were used to identify articles. Studies were selected to describe: 1) theoretical strategies related to fall hazards identification, 2) the nature of interventions, and 3) the use in community contexts.
Results
A total of 35 articles were identified spanning from 1994 to 2019. Fall hazards identification was most commonly used to reduce the risk of falls in community-dwelling older adults, focusing largely of fall reduction in the home, facilitated by occupational therapists and researchers.
Conclusion
Establishing a clear definition of fall hazards, and developing a theoretical framework to facilitate program implementation should advance fall hazards identification.
Keywords:
Acknowledgements
Christina Ziebart is supported by the CIHR doctoral award. Pavlos Bobos is supported by the CIHR doctoral award. Joy C MacDermid was supported by a CIHR Chair in Gender, Work and Health and the Dr. James Roth Research Chair in Musculoskeletal Measurement and Knowledge Translation.
Author contribution
Christina Ziebart, and Joy MacDermid contributed to the idea of the manuscript
Christina Ziebart and Pavlos Bobos selected the articles with guidance from Joy MacDermind
Christina Ziebart Rochelle Furtado, and Sara MacDermid-Watts extracted the data, with extraction confirmation completed by Pavlos Bobos
Christina Ziebart primarily wrote the manuscript with feedback provided by Dianne Bryant, Mike Szekeres, Nina Suh and Joy MacDermid
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.