JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Falls are a critical source of injury, hospitalization, and leave many older adults unable to return home, especially in rural communities with limited healthcare services.

Objective:

The objective of this scoping review is to explore the literature about falls prevention from the perspectives of older adults living within a rural context. This review protocol aims to identify the search parameters and methodology that will be used in the scoping review.

Methods:

This scoping review will be guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s five step methodological framework. We will search for relevant peer-reviewed English language literature from five databases including: CINAHL, PubMed, Academic Search Complete, PsychINFO, and Scopus. The reference lists of relevant articles will be hand-searched to identify articles.

Results:

This protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework (osf.io/sx8vt) on June 26, 2024. The scoping review’s data collection and analysis will be conducted from September to December 2024. Results from the review will be distributed through publication in a peer-reviewed journal article, conference presentation, webinar, and a rural community workshops.

Conclusions:

Understanding rural older adults’ perspectives of falls prevention is critical to supporting independence and healthy aging in rural communities. This review’s findings about falls prevention may have important implications for rural community leaders, policymakers, and health practitioners working to support falls prevention in rural communities. Clinical Trial: Not applicable.