A falls intervention database: Describing and evaluating falls prevention programs nationally

Falls affect one in three people over the age of 65 at least once every yea r. They can result in death, fracture, other major and minor injuries and a loss of confidence in mobility. One of the responses to this public health concern has been a proliferation of falls prevention programs. A comprehen sive national database of community based falls prevention programs has bee n developed which aims to facilitate the exchange of information concerning falls interventions. Falls prevention programs have been identified and cr itically appraised by an interdisciplinary team using evaluation guidelines based on published findings and reviewed by a reference group. It is envis aged that the Falls Intervention Database will be a valuable resource for t hose planning and developing future falls prevention programs.