title: A statewide baseline inventory of evidence-based fall prevention programs for older adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Massachusetts (MA) Department of Public Health engaged the Injury Prevention Center at Boston Medical Center to develop a statewide baseline (2012) inventory of evidence-based (EB) community falls prevention programs for community-dwelling older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  A web-based survey of organizations (n = 825) serving older adults was deployed in two parts. The Directors' survey determined if a falls prevention program had been offered in 2012, the salience (rating of importance) of falls prevention for the organization, and intention to offer future falls prevention programming. A falls prevention program offered in 2012 triggered a second survey of Director-designated Coordinators to obtain information on programs' dates and locations. For the last program offered, data were collected on the number of participants, the training and occupations of program facilitators, and program funding. The last programs served as a cross-sectional sample of all programs offered during 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Response rates were 55 % (N = 457) and 86 % (N = 112) for the Directors' and Coordinators' surveys, respectively. The mean salience score for falls prevention was 3.68, on a 1-5 (most salient) scale; 12 % of respondents indicated offering ≥1 evidence-based program during 2012. We documented 107 EB programs, the majority of which (83 %) were offered by public agencies that serve older adults.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infrastructure for deployment of EB falls prevention programs is developing in MA, despite the absence of institutionalized funding, legislative mandates, widespread referrals from healthcare providers, or health insurance reimbursement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Injury Prevention Center at Boston Medical Center, One Boston Medical Center Place, Boston Medical Center, Dowling 1 South, Boston, MA, 02118, USA. jhowl@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Howland
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Injury Prevention Center at Boston Medical Center, One Boston Medical Center Place, Boston Medical Center, Dowling 1 South, Boston, MA, 02118, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Treadway
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Injury Prevention Center at Boston Medical Center, One Boston Medical Center Place, Boston Medical Center, Dowling 1 South, Boston, MA, 02118, USA.
authors.forename: Alyssa A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 919 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Peterson
keywords: Community-based; Cross-sectional study; Falls; Injury prevention; Intervention; Survey