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Karen Hughes, MAppSc, Eric van Beurden, PhD, Elizabeth G. Eakin, PhD, Lisa M. Barnett, MPH, Elizabeth Patterson, BSc, Jan Backhouse, BSocSci, Sue Jones, BA, Darren Hauser, Assoc Dip, John R. Beard, MBBS, PhD and Beth Newman, PhD

Karen L. Hughes and Beth Newman are with the School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Australia. Eric van Beurden and Elizabeth Patterson are with the Health Promotion Unit, North Coast Area Health Service, Lismore, Australia. Elizabeth G. Eakin is with the Cancer Prevention Research Centre, School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Lisa M. Barnett is with the Northern Rivers University of Rural Health, Sydney University, Sydney, Australia, and the Health Promotion Unit, North Coast Area Health Service, Lismore. Jan Backhouse is with the School of Education/Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University, Lismore. Darren Hauser and Sue Jones are with the Central Area Population Health Services–Wide Bay, Hervey Bay, Australia. John R. Beard is with the New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY, and the University of Sydney, Sydney.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Beth Newman, School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Rd, Kelvin Grove, Queensland, 4059, Australia (email: b.newman{at}qut.edu.au).

Objectives. We examined older people’s attitudes about falls and implications for the design of fall-prevention awareness campaigns.

Methods. We assessed data from (1) computer-assisted telephone surveys conducted in 2002 with Australians 60 years and older in Northern Rivers, New South Wales (site of a previous fall-prevention program; n=1601), and Wide Bay, Queensland (comparison community; n=1601), and (2) 8 focus groups (n=73).

Results. Participants from the previous intervention site were less likely than were comparison participants to agree that falls are not preventable (odds ratio [OR]=0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.65, 0.90) and more likely to rate the prevention of falls a high priority (OR=1.31; 95% CI=1.09, 1.57). There was no difference between the groups for self-perceived risk of falls; more than 60% rated their risk as low. Those with a low perceived risk were more likely to be men, younger, partnered, and privately insured, and to report better health and no history of falls. Focus group data indicated that older people preferred messages that emphasized health and independence rather than falls.

Conclusions. Although older people accepted traditional fall-prevention messages, most viewed them as not personally relevant. Messages that promote health and independence may be more effective.