Unraveling the Memory of Falls in Older Adults: A Scoping Review

Despite abundant research on falls in older adults, studies on the memory of falls are rare. Important issues not yet addressed include how older adults remember falls and whether these memories shape their life stories. Hence, a review was carried out in line with PRISMA guidelines. The present paper describes the MEMFA (MEMory of Falls in Aging) hypothesis, which we formulated to explain why older adults successfully integrate some memories of falls, but not others, into their life stories. According to the MEMFA hypothesis, memories of falls in older adults are highly specific and vivid, trigger-reliving, and often have negative emotional valence. These characteristics, especially the negative emotional valence, when mediated by anxiety and/or depression, hinder the ability of older adults to extract meaning from falls, resulting in the unsuccessful integration of these memories and, ultimately, a fear of falling. By providing a framework for studying the memory of falls, the MEMFA hypothesis will give rise to new insights into the psychological well-being of older adults and inform future interventions.