Abstract
According to the (CDC, 2015) data, falls are the leading cause of nonfatal and fatal injuries for adults 65 years and older with 1 in 3 older adults experiencing a fall each year. Non-fatal falls cost an average of $50 billion in the US with $29 billion in expenses to Medicare and $12 billion by private insurance, or out of pocket payers (Florence CS et al., 2018).|Fall prevention programs can be easily and effectively integrated into the lifestyle of older adults living in the community by occupational therapists. Occupational therapists have the knowledge and skills to implement evidence-based fall prevention methods to older adults in a variety of different settings including home health, community education programs, outpatient and inpatient therapy settings. A fall prevention intervention would consist of an OT and participants from the older adult population participating in either a group or individual intervention. The OT in a fall prevention intervention would utilize the evidence gained from fall prevention program research and apply it as a multi dimensional education and training session to provide the client or group of older adults with the most up to date and effective preventative practices to help older adults living in the community avoid falls.|Reducing fall risk behaviors in older adults will help them to stay in their homes as well avoid expensive medical bills due to fall related injuries. The evidence gained through research of fall prevention programs is important to occupational therapy practice because it provides the most up to date and effective intervention strategies for therapists to provide to their clients (Giurgius et al., 2018). This information is important for the practice of occupational therapy because it provides evidence-based practice guidelines that OTs can use in program development or intervention planning for the community dwelling the older adult population. OTs should care about this research because fall prevention and the older adult population is a growing practice area for occupational therapy and it will provide OTs with the most effective intervention strategies.