Citation

Olij BF, Erasmus V, Barmentloo LM, Burdorf A, Smilde D, Schoon Y, van der Velde N, Polinder S. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019; 16(6): e16061079.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Erasmus MC, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. s.polinder@erasmusmc.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph16061079

PMID

30917558

Abstract

We aimed to describe and evaluate the implementation of a home-based exercise program among community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years. In an observational study, the twelve-week program was implemented in a community setting. The implementation plan consisted of dialogues with healthcare professionals and older adults, development of an implementation protocol, recruitment of participants, program implementation, and implementation evaluation. The dialogues consisted of a Delphi survey among healthcare professionals, and of individual and group meetings among older adults. The implementation of the program was evaluated using the framework model RE-AIM. In the dialogues with healthcare professionals and older adults, it was found that negative consequences of a fall and positive effects of preventing a fall should be emphasized to older adults, in order to get them engaged in fall prevention activities. A total of 450 older adults enrolled in the study, of which 238 started the program. The process evaluation showed that the majority of older adults were recruited by a community nurse. Also, a good collaboration between the research team and the local primary healthcare providers was accomplished, which was important in the recruitment. Future fall prevention studies may use this information in order to translate an intervention in a research project into a community-based program.

Language: en

Keywords

accidental falls; aged; exercise; implementation science; independent living; prevention and control