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Action Falls: Developing a falls management programme for adults with intellectual disabilities

Falls can have a significant impact on the lives of adults with intellectual disabilities and their carers. There is a need to develop falls prevention strategies specifically for adults with intellectual disabilities.

The Action Falls programme is a falls management tool that identifies falls risk factors and supports action to reduce these risks. The Action Falls programme was co-produced by clinicians, care staff and researchers and is clinically used across community settings in the general older adult population. The current Action Falls programme for older adults needs adapting for adults with intellectual disabilities who have specific reasons why they might fall and are supported by different services in the community.

We will co-produce, with people who have intellectual disabilities, carers and health professionals a revised version of the Action Falls programme to meet their needs.

There will be 3 components of work:

Stage 1: Interviews with stakeholders on the current Action Falls tool and falls management

• The stakeholder interviews have now been completed and this has identified two parts to the tool;

1. Overview for adults with intellectual disabilities and their carers.
2. Clinical assessment for healthcare professionals.

• These two versions will be further developed in Stage 2.

Stage 2: Consensus process to agree the key aspects of an adapted Action Falls tool

• We completed the expert consensus group on 7/6/22– thank you to all involved. The group has helped us to develop the format of the tool. This part of the tool has been updated and taken to an independent group of clinical experts to check accuracy of the clinical content. We have also informally consulted with adults with intellectual disabilities and carers on their component of the tool.
• The clinical and adults with intellectual disabilities and carer part of the tool have now been completed and are ready for Stage 3.

Stage 3: Proof of concept study to try out the adapted Action Falls tool and see what people think about using it

We asked people with a learning disability and carers to review the Action Falls ALD plan and give their views. They thought it was too detailed and complex and needed lots of changes before it could be used.

We asked clinicians to review the Action Falls Clinician Manual and give their views. They thought the order and wording needed tweaking in places and suggested training on how to use may be needed. The Action Fals ALD plan may be used as part of the clinician assessment.

From all the work in the study we have developed:

• An adapted Action Falls for people with a learning disability that may be useful as part of a clinical assessment. This is not ready to be used yet and needs further research to explore how it can be used in a clinical service and whether it helps to reduce falls risks. More work is also needed to develop a training package. To do this we need to apply for further research funding.
• A falls awareness video that helps to raise the importance of thinking about keeping steady on your feet for people with a learning disability. We are just finalising this video which will be available on this website as soon as possible.

If you have any study queries, please contact: joy.agbonmwandolor@nhs.net

Study reports and summaries

• Summary of main findings from key stakeholders interviews: Sept 2021- April 2022
• Easy Read Summary of Interview Findings 2022

• Adapting the Action Falls Programme for adults with a learning disability

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