Falling Prevention Comprehensive Model for Older People Self-caring
Condition: Accidental Fall; Accident at Home
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Falls in elderly people are a public health problem and in Chile there's a deficit regarding
      prevention strategies focused on high functioning older people who live in the community. The
      aim of the study is to design, implement and evaluate a comprehensive model based on house
      calls and oriented towards falling prevention (PM ACTIVAS' model). The researchers will
      perform a clinical trial in a district of Santiago, Chile to evaluate this model. Our
      hypothesis are that people who received the educational intervention following the PM
      ACTIVAS' model will: fall less frequently, improve their management on falls risk factors
      present at home, and have a higher falls risk perception than the control group. The
      researchers also expect that it will be possible to establish cut off points in a valid and
      reliable scale to assess the presence of falls risk factors in elderly people.
    

Detailed description: 
      The comprehensive model PM ACTIVAS uses the house call to make a multidimensional assessment
      on the patient's falls risks factors (internal and external) and their falls risk perception
      in order to come up with a plan (together with the patient and their family, if present) to
      modify the hazards present at the patient's home. Together with a telephone follow-up to
      support the patient in their plan, it is expected that the patient would have a higher falls
      risk perception, lower falls risks present at home in order to prevent falling.

      In the clinical trial, the sample will comprise of 220 high-functioning elderly people (from
      65 to 80 years old) from the area which will be divided in two groups. The intervention group
      will receive a house call to perform the educational intervention with the PM ACTIVAS' model,
      while the control group will receive standard care from their health center. The research
      team will measure their internal and external falls risk factors and their falls risk
      perception at the beginning and at the end of the study. They will also receive a "Falling
      Prevention Kit" and a "Fall and Events Calendar" where they have to write every time they
      fall or trip and the day when it happened. At the end of the study, both groups will receive
      a house call to measure again their falls risk factors and perceptions in order to analyze if
      there has been any difference between groups regarding these factors.
    

Intervention name(s): Educational Intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): An educational intervention based on the PM ACTIVAS' model and a " Falling Prevention Kit ", both in a home visit by the trainees. Also, a telephone follow-up and a last house call 12 months after recruiting to assess the changes implemented by the person and their family, to conduct the final survey and to ask for the " Falls and Events Calendar " .
Other intervention name(s): PM ACTIVAS' intervention model
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Aged; Accident Prevention; House Calls; Clinical Trial