Life after falls prevention exercise - experiences of older people taking part in a clinical trial: a phenomenological study

Background: There is little evidence about the lived experience of older people who have completed a falls prevention exercise programme and their life beyond their intervention. Method: A phenomenological interview study with 23 participants (12 females), mean age 81 years (range 74-93 years), residing in their own homes across England, who had participated in a falls prevention exercise intervention within the Prevention of Falls Injury Trial (PreFIT). The aims were to explore their experiences of: i. being in a clinical trial involving exercise. ii. exercise once their falls prevention intervention had finished. Interpretative data analysis was informed by van Manen's (1997) framework for phenomenological data. Results: Analysis of interviews about experiences of participating in PreFIT and what happened once the falls intervention ended identified five themes: Happy to help; Exercise behaviours; "It keeps me going"; "It wasn't a real fall"; and Loss. Participants did not continue their specific exercises after they had completed the intervention. They preferred walking as their main exercise, and none reported preventing falls as a motivator to continue exercising. Participant experiences suggest that they have their own ideas about what constitutes a fall and there is disparity between their interpretation and the definition used by healthcare professionals and researchers. Conclusion: Despite good intentions and perceived benefits, on-going participation in falls prevention exercises beyond a structured, supervised intervention was not a priority for these older people. Promoting continuation of falls prevention exercises post-intervention is just as challenging as promoting uptake to and adherence during exercise programmes.