A cutting-edge research study on the effectiveness of a multifaceted program including balance exercise, brain training and cognitive behavioural therapy towards reducing falls. 

For our next research study, called ​“StandingTall-Plus”, we have added a cutting-edge brain training program to our original StandingTall program. The main goal is to help people think faster on their feet during daily activities. We are also collaborating with the Black Dog Institute to offer online cognitive behavioural therapy to address depressive thoughts and low mood.

Falls in older people are often caused by a concomitant decline across three domains: mobility, cognition and affect; or in other words, across moving — thinking — feeling domains. The aim of this trial is to test a program that is individually tailored to various physical, cognitive and affective aspects (as opposed to medical pathologies) by taking a multifactorial profile approach to fall prevention. The use of technology will ensure that is easily accessible to do in the home and engaging to continue over a long period.

A randomised controlled trial will be conducted in 518 community-dwelling older adults at high-risk of falls. All participants will be assessed using a comprehensive test battery of known falls risk factors across physical, cognitive and affective domains. This will then be used to offer each participant a fully tailored program that is suited to their abilities and circumstances. Our primary aim is to reduce the number of falls over a 12-month follow-up period when compared to a health promotion program.

We hypothesise that our program will improve balance, cognitive function and mood, increase physical activity levels and reduce falls in older people, when compared to a health promotion program. This trial addresses a key gap in the understanding of falls interventions and application of personalized medicine and will provide direct evidence about the cost and effectiveness of a tailored multifaceted ​“best-bet” solution.