Falls prevention among older people and care providers: protocol for an integrative review

Abstract

Aim. To review the evidence about the role of care providers in fall prevention in older adults aged ≥ 65 years, this includes their views, strategies, and approaches on falls prevention and effectiveness of nursing interventions. Background. Some fall prevention programmes are successfully implemented and led by nurses and it is acknowledged the vital role they play in developing plans for fall prevention. Nevertheless, there has not been a systematic review of the literature that describes this role and care providers' views on fall's prevention initiatives. Design. A convergent synthesis of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies. The eligibility criteria will be based on participants, interventions/exposure, comparisons, and outcomes for quantitative studies and on population, the phenomena of interest and the context, for qualitative studies. To extract data and assess study qualities members of the research team will work in pairs according to their expertise. The review will follow the guidelines for integrative reviews and the proposed methods will adhere to the PRISMA statement checklist complemented by the ENTREQ framework. As qualitative synthesis are emergent, all procedures and changes in procedure will be documented. Discussion. The review has a constructivist drive as studies that combine methods ought to be paradigmatic driven. Review questions are broad to allow issues emerge and have purposefully left the design flexible to allow for adjustments as the review progresses. The review seeks to highlight the roles that care providers play in fall prevention and their views on fall's prevention initiatives.