Development And Implementation Of Strong Foundations, A Digitally Delivered Fall Prevention Program: Usability And Feasibility Pilot Exercise Cohort Study

Background: Falls remain a major public health problem and significant cause of preventable injury. Maintaining strength and balance by staying active can prevent falls in older adults, and public health advocates support referral to community exercise programs. Given the growth in use and acceptance of technologic interfaces, there remains an interest in understanding the role of a synchronous exercise program designed to improve strength, postural alignment and balance specifically designed to be delivered in a digital environment with respect to usability and feasibility. Objective: To design and implement a synchronously delivered digital fall prevention program to adults 60 and older, to understand the usability, feasibility, and attendance. Methods: The “Strong Foundations” program, a 12-week, live, digitally delivered fall-prevention exercise program was informed from different existing in-person exercises and piloted to older adults who are low fall risk by scores of 4 or less from the CDC’s STEADI Staying Independent questionnaire. The System Usability Scale (SUS) measured usability feasibility at completion of this program, and digital measures of age-related function (Timed Up and Go (TUG) and 30-Second Chair Stand (30CS)) were collected, pre/post intervention, Data were collected in 2021. Results: 39 older adults were recruited and 38 completed the 12-week program with an average age of 72. The average SUS was 80.6, with an 85% attendance rate and 8.5 (out of 10) self reported satisfaction score. Digitally collected TUG and 30CS statistically improved pre/post intervention by 9% and 24% respectively; by week 12, 64% of participants improved in the timed up and go (23/36) and 91% improved the chair stands (32/35). Conclusions: There was excellent usability and acceptability for Strong Foundations, a novel fall-prevention program designed to be delivered digitally, and promising improvement of objective measures of fall-risk.