Feasibility of Motivational Interviewing to Engage Older Inpatients in Fall Prevention: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

In the current 3-month, two arm, unblinded, single site, pilot randomized controlled trial, 120 high fall risk hospitalized older adults (age ≥65) were contacted, and 67 participants were enrolled. The intervention arm received a brief motivational interviewing (MI) intervention. Both arms received routine hospital fall prevention protocols. Measurements were conducted at baseline, 2 days, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months. MI intervention took approximately 21 minutes and was provided at beginning proficiency level. Approximately 66% of participants completed 3-month data collection. The intervention group reported a greater decrease in fear of falling after the intervention than the control arm (β = -0.856 vs. β = -0.236) and maintained fall prevention behaviors at 3 months (β = 0.001 vs. β = -0.083) (p < 0.05). The current study found brief MI for fall prevention in acute settings feasible and provided preliminary evidence for a positive impact of MI [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 45(9), 19-29.].