• medical assessment; • home safety checks and advice; • monitoring of prescription medications; • environmental changes; • tailored exercise and physical activity; • training in transfer skills and gait; • assessment of readiness to change be- haviour; and • referral of clients to health-care profes- sionals. Unfortunately, multifactorial falls preven- tion interventions can be labour-intensive and expensive both for the individual and the community. For these reasons, deci- sions regarding whether to implement a comprehensive, multifaceted falls-preven- tion intervention, or targeted interven- tions addressing individual risk factors and determinants will need to be made at the local or national level. These shown-effec- tive decisions need to take into account a variety of economic, cultural, and political factors. In the section below, information about some of the most promising inter- ventions that have been shown to be effec- tive in reducing the incidence of falls and fall-related injuries in older populations is summarized. Behaviour change: In recent years grow- ing attention has focused on the study of behavioural factors that increase the prob- ability of an individual in initiating and
maintaining an intervention designed to promote health and/or reduce the risk of chronic conditions. There is now good evi- dence that incorporating a comprehensive behavioural change strategy into inter- ventions designed to increase health and well-being can help to maximize recruit- ment, increase motivation, and minimize attrition. Among the behavioural strate- gies that have been shown to increase the likelihood that a person will sustain a new behaviour are the following: • Securing social support from family and friends. • Promoting the participant’s self-efficacy and perceived competence. • Providing older persons with active choices that are tailored to their per- sonal needs and preferences. • Encouraging older persons to commit to an intervention by developing health contracts and/or goal statements that include realistic and measurable plans of action with specified health goals. • Concerns for safety are identified as a barrier to changing behaviour by many older adults. Educating participants about actual risks of interventions can help to alleviate many of these con- cerns. • Providing regular and accurate perfor- mance feedback can assist older adults in developing realistic expectations about their own progress.