Tailored Calendar Journals to Ascertain Falls Among Older Adults

Although falls are a serious health risk for community-dwelling older adults, their ascertainment has been complicated by issues such as recall and reporting biases. We examined a novel method, individualized tailored calendars, to accurately ascertain falls in older adults. A convenience sample of 125 cognitively normal participants enrolled in longitudinal studies of healthy aging at the Knight Alzheimer's Disease Ressearch Center was followed prospectively for 12 months. Tailored calendar journal pages were used to document falls daily and returned by mail monthly. Participants received a US$5 gift card incentive for each month returned. Participants returned 1,487 of 1,500 calendar months over the 12-month follow-up for 99.1% compliance rate. There were 154 falls reported. Tailored calendar journals and incentives may be effective in ascertaining falls among community-dwelling older adults. This tool could improve the accuracy of outcome measures for occupational therapy interventions.