Practicing Getting Up from the Floor to Reduce Fear of Falling and Improve Floor-Rise Ability in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: a Pilot Study

Glasgow Caledonian University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Post-Fall Recovery; Floor-Rise Ability; Older Adults (65 Years and Older); Fear of Falling; Falls

Treatments: Behavioral: Video Demonstration; Behavioral: Floor-Rise Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06823882

AHP/A23/004

Details and patient eligibility

About

Goal:

This pilot study aims to determine whether practicing getting down to and standing up from the floor reduces fear of falling (FoF) and improves older adults' ability to complete this task. The study compares this to a control group that watches educational videos on the same topic. This practice is referred to as Floor-Rise Training (FRT).

Main Questions:

1. Can a short FRT intervention reduce fear of falling?
2. Can a short FRT intervention improve the ability to rise from kneeling, sitting, and lying positions?
3. Does watching an instructional video on FRT improve fear of falling or floor-rise ability?

Study Design:

Researchers will compare:

• A group receiving 20 minutes of FRT weekly for 5 weeks.
• A control group watching FRT videos followed by discussions over the same period. Changes in floor-rise ability and FoF will be assessed to determine the effectiveness of FRT.

Participants:

Participants will be recruited from five Otago exercise classes (a falls prevention program without FRT) in Renfrewshire. Each class will be randomly assigned to either:

• The FRT intervention group (3 classes).
• The control group (2 classes) watching videos that include an FRT demonstration. Participants will complete questionnaires (to assess FoF) and timed floor-rise tests before and after the intervention. Some may also be invited to focus groups to share their experiences with the intervention, videos and with our recruitment procedures.

Enrollment: 61 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 65+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 65 or older
• Able to provide written informed consent
• Currently engaged with ROAR and attending the Otago exercise classes

Exclusion criteria

• Requiring a walking frame indoors to mobilise
• Have any medical condition that renders it inadvisable to descend to the floor (e.g. such as awaiting knee replacement surgery)
• Any uncontrolled medical condition requiring medical input
• BM I≥ 30 kg/m2
• Lacking capacity to consent to participate
• Unable to comprehend FRT instructions

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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61 participants in 2 patient groups

Floor-Rise Training Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants practiced getting up from the floor using a structured approach called the Backward Chaining Method (BCM). Sessions lasted 20 minutes weekly for 5 weeks, led by an instructor.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Floor-Rise Training

Video Demonstration Group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants watched a 20-minute instructional video called "Upwards and Onwards", available on the NHS Inform website. The video explains how to get up from the floor safely and how to practice. It was divided into shorter sections over 5 weeks, with group discussions ensuring a total of 20 minutes per week.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Video Demonstration