Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
September 11, 2026 · via Europe PMC
State Veteran Home Resident Reflections on Fall Prevention Strategies.
McIntosh N, Clark V, Nash P, +7 more, Snow AL
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
A qualitative study of State Veteran Home residents found that resident-initiated behaviors, staff reminders, and assistive equipment were the most commonly reported helpful fall-prevention strategies, while unmet needs and poor staff-resident interactions were the leading perceived unhelpful factors.
What was studied
A cross-sectional qualitative study interviewing 68 veteran residents across 8 State Veteran Homes (SVHs) about their experiences with fall-reduction strategies, categorizing resident-reported strategies as 'helpful' or 'unhelpful' and calculating the proportion and relative frequency of each reported category.
Key findings
- 60 residents (88%) reported 18 perceived helpful fall-reduction strategies; the most common categories were resident behavior (36%, e.g., asking for help), reminders/education (31%, e.g., staff reminding residents to use walkers), and equipment (17%, e.g., grip socks).
- 16 residents (24%) reported 16 perceived unhelpful strategies: 71% related to unmet resident needs (e.g., slow staff response time), 25% to poor staff-resident interactions (e.g., staff impatience), and 4% to the physical environment (e.g., cramped rooms).
Clinical relevance
The findings suggest that improving staff-resident interactions, addressing unmet resident needs, and creating safer environments could help reduce fall risk while preserving resident autonomy in nursing home/veteran home settings, which may be relevant to long-term care facility fall-prevention program design.
Who should care
Limitations
Qualitative, self-reported data from 68 residents across 8 facilities may not capture the full range of experiences or generalize to all long-term care settings; the study describes resident perceptions rather than objectively measured fall outcomes or intervention effectiveness.
Veteran home residents found staff reminders, their own proactive behaviors, and simple equipment most helpful for fall prevention, while unmet needs and poor staff interactions were seen as the biggest barriers, suggesting targeted, resident-centered improvements could help.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
We explored the perspectives of State Veteran Home (SVH) residents regarding their experiences with fall-reduction strategies.
DESIGN
We used a cross-sectional, qualitative approach to identify SVH resident reports of fall-reduction strategies.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS
We interviewed veteran residents of SVHs.
METHODS
We analyzed interview data qualitatively to identify resident-reported fall-reduction strategies. We categorized strategies as "helpful" or "unhelpful" based on resident perspectives, and within each category, we grouped like strategies and calculated the proportion of residents who reported each and the relative frequency of each.
RESULTS
We interviewed 68 residents in 8 SVHs. Sixty residents (88%) reported 18 perceived "helpful" fall-reduction strategies. The most frequently reported categories were resident behavior (36%), which related to resident-initiated efforts (eg, asking for help); reminders and education (31%), which related to resident perceptions of staff being vigilant and reminding residents about fall-reduction strategies (eg, to use their walkers); and equipment (17%), which related to using devices or objects to improve stability (eg, using grip socks). Sixteen residents (24%) reported 16 "unhelpful" strategies. Seventy-one percent related to unmet resident needs (eg, slow staff response time); 25% related to poor staff-resident interactions (eg, staff being impatient); and 4% related to the physical environment (eg, having a cramped room). Some resident-perceived "unhelpful" strategies were done for safety reasons.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
SVH resident reports of perceived helpful strategies support commonly used fall-reduction efforts in nursing homes. Resident reports of perceived unhelpful strategies highlight resident unmet needs and the tension between resident safety and autonomy. To better promote safe mobility and mitigate "unhelpful" strategies from a resident point of view, improving staff-resident interactions, implementing interventions focused on maintaining or improving resident functional capacity, and creating safer environments are recommended. Staff may be able to reduce nursing home resident fall risk while fostering resident autonomy by improving staff-resident interactions, by addressing resident unmet needs, and by creating safer environments.
DOI
10.1016/j.jamda.2026.106468
PMID
42727275
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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