Participants utilised strategies to protect themselves and their friends against being seen as someone at risk of falling or having fallen because of intrinsic falls risk factors. This ensured maintenance of an identity defined by physical competence and responsibility even when they had fallen in the past, as described in the following categories. This presentation was necessary, as they viewed other older people who had fallen negatively and they had to differentiate themselves from this. If they did not do this, then they would be acknowledging that they too were like other older people who had fallen. Three major categories supported the core categor