Falls Prevention Among Older Adults in Rural Communities: Protocol for a Scoping Review

TL;DR

This study aims to understand how to prevent falls among older adults in rural areas by reviewing existing research and identifying key perspectives and strategies.

Contribution

The study introduces a scoping review protocol focused on rural older adults' perspectives on falls prevention, which is underrepresented in current literature.

Findings

The review will use Arksey and O’Malley’s framework to analyze literature on rural falls prevention.

Findings will inform community leaders and health practitioners on effective prevention strategies for rural older adults.

The review will be conducted using five major databases and thematic analysis of included studies.

Abstract

Falls are a critical source of injury and hospitalization and leave many older adults unable to return home, especially in rural communities with limited access to health care and support services. Studying falls prevention among rural older adults is essential because they may face an increased risk of falls due to unique environmental factors, geography, and outdoor activities. Moreover, rural older adults may have limited awareness regarding fall-related risks and preventive activities.

The objective of this scoping review is to explore the literature about falls prevention from the perspectives of older adults living within a rural context. This review protocol aims to identify the search parameters and methodology that will be used in the scoping review.

This scoping review will be guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s 5-step methodological framework. We will search for relevant peer-reviewed English language literature from 5 databases: CINAHL, PubMed, Academic Search Complete, PsycINFO, and Scopus. The reference lists of relevant studies will be hand-searched to identify papers. Inclusion criteria (English language, peer-reviewed journal papers, original research, focusing on rural perspectives to support falls prevention, and published from January 2013 to December 31, 2023) will be used to determine the eligibility of the journal papers. The data from the included papers will be extracted using a standardized table and analyzed using thematic analysis.

This protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework on June 26, 2024. The scoping review’s data collection and analysis were conducted from September to December 2024. Results from the review will be distributed through publication in a peer-reviewed journal paper, conference presentation, webinar, and a rural community workshop.

Understanding rural older adults’ perspectives of falls prevention is critical to supporting independence and healthy aging in rural communities. This review’s findings about falls prevention may have important implications for rural community leaders, policy makers, and health practitioners working to support falls prevention in rural communities.

PRR1-10.2196/63716