Evaluation and Development of Falls Prevention and Management in the Community for Older Adults

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study investigates how differently-framed messages can affect people's attitude towards falls risk and prevention in older adults. This study considers the potentiality of adult children acting as change agents in influencing parents in falls prevention.

Detailed Description
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A randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to test the effectiveness of two messaging types (positively vs negatively framed) via two target audiences (older vs younger adults). The RCT evaluates the effectiveness of the differently-framed messages delivered to older and younger adults in affecting people's attitude toward falls risk and motivating them to learn about preventing falls. Also, the potential of adult children acting as change agents to positively influence parents in preventing falls is explored. Older and younger adults who are eligible to participate in this study are randomly given one message. For older adults, the objective is to study which message is more effective in affecting their attitude towards falls risk and motivating them to learn about preventing falls. For younger adults, the aim is to understand which message is more effective in motivating them to learn about preventing falls for their parents. Hypotheses: H1: The negatively framed message is more effective than the positively framed counterpart in motivating older adults to find out about preventing falls. However, this effect decreases as the socioeconomic status decreases. H2: The negatively framed message is more effective than the positively framed counterpart in motivating younger adults to find out about preventing falls.

Official Title
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Evaluation and Development of Falls Prevention and Management in the Community of Central and North of Singapore for Older Adults

Conditions
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Falls Risk, Falls Prevention

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: No Message Given
* Behavioral: Positive Message Given - Older Adults
* Behavioral: Negative Message Given - Older Adults
* Behavioral: Positive Message Given - Younger Adults
* Behavioral: Negative Message Given - Younger Adults


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Singaporean or Permanent Residents (PRs) Read/speak English, Mandarin, or Malay Either age 60 years old and above, walk independently with or without assistive devices, have no self-reported/detected dementia or cognitive impairments or age between 30 and 59 years old and have either one of the parents age 60 years old and above who walk independently with or without assistive devices Exclusion Criteria: Not Singaporean or PRs Do not read/speak English, Chinese, and Malay Age 29 years old and below Cannot walk independently with and without assistive devices Have self-reported/detected dementia or cognitive impairments

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 30 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Control - Older Adults<br>Participants age 60 years old or above. | Behavioral: No Message Given<br>* Participants in this arm are not given any intervention.<br>|
| Experimental: Positive - Older Adults<br>Participants age 60 years old or above. | Behavioral: Positive Message Given - Older Adults<br>* Participants in this arm are given a positively framed message from an older adult's point of view.<br>|
| Experimental: Negative - Older Adults<br>Participants age 60 years old or above. | Behavioral: Negative Message Given - Older Adults<br>* Participants in this arm are given a negatively framed message from an older adult's point of view.<br>|
| Experimental: Control - Younger Adults<br>Participants age between 30 and 59 years old. | Behavioral: No Message Given<br>* Participants in this arm are not given any intervention.<br>|
| Experimental: Positive - Younger Adults<br>Participants age between 30 and 59 years old. | Behavioral: Positive Message Given - Younger Adults<br>* Participants in this arm are given a positively framed message from an adult child's point of view.<br>|
| Experimental: Negative - Younger Adults<br>Participants age between 30 and 59 years old. | Behavioral: Negative Message Given - Younger Adults<br>* Participants in this arm are given a negatively framed message from an adult child's point of view.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How much does the participant want to find out about preventing falls for himself/herself or his/her father/mother? | This is a scale variable ranging from 1 to 9, which is 1 if not at all and 9 if a lot | After being given a message during the survey, an average of 2 minutes | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Whether the participant or the participant's father/mother has fallen in the past 12 months | This is a categorical variable, which is Yes if the participant or the participant's father/mother has fallen in the past 12 months, No if not, and Do not know if the participant does not know whether his/her father/mother has fallen in the past 12 months | After being given a message during the survey, an average of 2 minutes | 
| Whether the participant or the participant's father/mother is concerned about falling | This is a categorical variable, which is Very concerned if the participant or the participant's father/mother is very concerned about falling, Slightly concerned if s/he is slightly concerned about falling, Not concerned if s/he is not concerned about falling, and Do not know if the participant does not know whether his/her father/mother is concerned about falling | After being given a message during the survey, an average of 2 minutes | 
| Whether the participant or the participant's father/mother feels like s/he is going to fall when standing or walking | This is a categorical variable, which is Always if the participant or the participant's father/mother always feels like s/he is going to fall when standing or walking, Sometimes if s/he sometimes feels like s/he is going to fall when standing or walking, Never if s/he never feels like s/he is going to fall when standing or walking, and Do not know if the participant does not know whether his/her father/mother feels like s/he is going to fall when standing or walking | After being given a message during the survey, an average of 2 minutes |