Enhancing Fall Prevention for Older Adults

Lessons Learned from a NACCHO Led Initiative

Falls among older adults pose significant health risks, but tailored interventions can make a difference. For the second consecutive year, through the Developing the Capacity to Support Older Adult Fall Prevention project, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in partnership with Health Communications Consultants (HCC, Inc.), worked with three unique programs to build capacity and evaluate fall prevention efforts.

The Challenge: Preventing Falls Among Older Adults

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among adults aged 65 and older. Identifying at-risk individuals and implementing effective prevention programs is critical. To address this, the project provided technical assistance and evaluation support to:

1. A Local Health Department program.
2. A Fire Department initiative.
3. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization’s effort.

Our Approach: Building Capacity through Collaboration

The initiative used a personalized evaluation template inspired by CDC guides, focusing on formative, process, outcome, and impact evaluations along with tools and resources from CDC’s STEADI initiative. Key project goals included:

• Developing and refining technical assistance and evaluation plans.
• Supporting programs through 1:1 consultations.
• Summarizing findings and creating supplementary resources.

Each program received a 10-section evaluation template featuring customizable prompts, figures, and tables to guide implementation and review. Regular technical assistance meetings encouraged creativity, problem-solving, and innovation tailored to the unique needs of each site.

HCC, Inc.’s Technical Assistance

Health Communications Consultants, Inc. (HCC, Inc.) brings a wealth of expertise in providing tailored technical assistance to support the sites in their fall prevention efforts. We employed our advanced evaluation techniques, capacity building strategies and a deep understanding of program implementation to meet the unique needs of our partner sites. In the formative evaluation we looked at:

1. The key aspects of each program to see if they were functioning as intended,
2. Whether the early outcomes were moving in the right direction,
3. Assure data-driven decisions were being made, and
4. Provide usability testing of program processes while allowing for modifications to be made before full implementation begins.

The use of the Evaluation Plan Template and the meeting format provided the opportunity for each site’s Fall Prevention Program to be exploratory, creative, and innovative while simultaneously providing opportunities for training and mentoring on the evaluation process and implementation of the program. 

Consistent communications provided for problem solving, consensus building, improved data literacy and project progression. 

The multidisciplinary expertise of the evaluation team allowed for creative data intake, storage, analytics and communication. With a focus on equity and innovation, HCC, Inc. empowered the organizations to enhance decision-making, achieve measurable outcomes, and build sustainable programs.

Outcomes and Lessons Learned

Despite shared goals, each program adopted a unique approach, leading to valuable insights:

• Local Health Department: Evaluation focused on historical and current data (2022–2024), revealing trends and long-term impacts of prior initiatives.
• Fire Department: Program integration with emergency medical services emphasized real-time data collection and patient follow-up.
• 501(c)3 Non-Profit Health Organization: This non-profit’s community-driven model demonstrated how partnerships can enhance outcomes.

Successes included:

• Increased organizational capacity to design and evaluate fall prevention programs.
• Enhanced understanding of program facilitators and barriers.
• Development of scalable resources, including a comprehensive evaluation guide.

Challenges included:

• Varied expertise levels in evaluation among sites.
• Time constraints impacting data collection and analysis.

This project underscored the importance of flexibility, collaboration, and personalized technical support in public health initiatives. Through participation in the program, each site was able to walk away with increased knowledge and skills in making data-driven decisions, evaluation of program outcomes, and engagement of stakeholders and partners in their Fall Prevention Program.

Explore resources

Resources created by Older Adult Fall Prevention – NACCHO program include NACCHO Older Fall Prevention Toolkit and Resource Guide for Local Health Departments. An evaluation guide that HCC, Inc. supported in creating is soon to be published and shared.