Allied health interprofessional falls prevention in community settings: Older adults perspectives through a socioecological lens

Objectives: Falls among community-dwelling older adults are a global public health concern. Although falls prevention care relies on interprofessional collaboration between medical and allied health professionals, older adults experiences and perspectives of allied health within multidisciplinary care remain underexplored. This research therefore explored older adults experiences and perspectives of allied health roles and interprofessional falls prevention care in community settings. Design: Qualitative study using focus groups. Data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and interpreted through the lens of the Socioecological Model Setting: Three metropolitan and two regional centres in Australia. Participants: Thirty-six older adults, over 60 years of age, participated across the five focus groups. Results: Four themes were identified: knowledge of allied health, access to care, co-ordination of care, and when and how to provide care. Each theme reflected interacting influences across socioecological levels, demonstrating the complexity of older adults engagement in falls prevention. Conclusions: Despite strong support for preventative care, participants experiences were frequently consumer-driven, reactive and fragmented. Limited knowledge of falls and allied health, unclear access pathways, and inadequate coordination of care, shaped by organisational and policy contexts, were identified as key barriers. System-level reform that embeds falls prevention and allied health within routine care and aligns funding, coordination mechanisms and public health strategies to deliver equitable, sustainable prevention are required.