Developing a Falls Management Tool for Adults With ID-POC

Developing a Falls Management Tool for Adults With Intellectual Disabilities- Proof of Concept Study

Falls can have a significant impact on the lives of adults with intellectual disabilities. The ACTION FALLS programme is a systematic falls management intervention that has been shown to be of benefit for older people however this programme in its current form needs to be adapted for use with adults with intellectual disabilities who have specific risk factors for falling and specific actions to reduce these risks. An adapted version of the programme to account for the different needs of adults with intellectual disabilities and the different services and support networks they access will be developed. A draft programme has been developed based on the views of adults with learning disabilities, carers and clinicians. This programme will now be tried out to see how easy it is to use. Adults with an intellectual disability, clinicians and carers will try out the programme and will be asked to give verbal feedback on their views on how easy it is to complete and what could be improved.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Intellectual Disability; Fall
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: ACTION FALLS

Detailed Description

The draft ACTION FALLS programme that will be used in this proof-of-concept study includes the following sections:

• Section One: A falls checklist, videos, and resource booklet for adults with an ID and carers.
• Section Two: A falls checklist for clinicians and a clinician manual for use in a clinical service.

Section one has been designed to be able to be used by adults with an ID and their carers independently of a clinical service. Additionally, section one could be used to support a clinical assessment in a clinical team to capture the views of adults with an ID. Section two has been designed to be used by a healthcare professional undertaking a more detailed assessment with adults with an ID.

There will be two components of work to explore views and acceptability of both the sections of the programme and how they work independently and together.

Component One:

Up to 10 clinicians will be recruited. The clinicians will be working in the ID service within Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and will be asked to review the updated ACTION FALLS programme . The 'Think Aloud' method will be used to explore the views of clinician in using the programme. The programme will be completed in addition to the standard clinical assessment. Completion of this programme will not interfere with the standard care received by the service users and clinical care will remain the responsibility of the usual care team and existing processes.

The following data will be collected and analysed:

• Researcher field notes observing the completion of the programme. This will include the time taken to complete the programme and any barriers and facilitators (analysed thematically)
• Research field notes on the verbal feedback given by participants when completing the programme (analysed thematically)

Component Two:

Up to 5 adults with an ID and 5 carers supporting adults with an ID in Nottinghamshire will be asked to use section one of the programme. This will be done without any clinician involvement. The programme will be reviewed as part of the workshop.

The following data will be collected and analysed:

• Researcher field notes observing the participants using the programme, this will include the time taken to complete the checklist and any barriers and facilitators (analysed thematically). These will be anonymous.- Research field notes on the verbal feedback given by participants when reviewing the programme (analysed thematically). These will be anonymous.
• Completed programme (personal information will be removed by the clinical researcher) - the number and type of risk factors identified will be extracted (and analysed using descriptive statistics and themes).

Email addresses of participants who would like to be provided with a lay summary at the end of the study will be collected. This will be collected on the consent form optionally.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 13

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Nottingham, United Kingdom
    • Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Nottingham, United Kingdom
    • Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: N/A

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Clinicians working in an identified ID service in one locality in the UK and adults with ID and their carers identified from one geographical location in the UK.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Component One:

-Clinicians working in identified clinical team for adults with ID

Component Two:

Adults with an ID, 18 years and over, living in Nottinghamshire Family or paid carer of an adult with an ID living in Nottinghamshire

Exclusion Criteria:

• Lack of capacity to provide informed consent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

3

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Adults with an intellectual disability; Review of ACTION FALLS programme	Behavioral: ACTION FALLS; Falls prevention advice including booklet and videos
Carers of adults with an intellectual disability; Review of ACTION FALLS programme	Behavioral: ACTION FALLS; Falls prevention advice including booklet and videos
Clinicians working with adults with an intellectual disability; Review of ACTION FALLS programme	Behavioral: ACTION FALLS; Falls prevention advice including booklet and videos

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Barriers and facilitators to completing the programme	Barriers and facilitators to completing the programme	Through study completion, on average one month
Views on the falls risk and actions included	Participant views on the falls risks in the programme and if they are clear and accurate	Through study completion, on average one month
Time taken and level of completion of the programme	Time taken and view on the length of the programme and details of the information included	Through study completion, on average one month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Collaborators: National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Study website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 19, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 18, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): December 18, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 22, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 26, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 30, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 30, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 25, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Intellectual Disability
• Other Study ID Numbers: 22AS002

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: No individual sharing of participant data.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No