Reducing home hazards to prevent falls in older people

The null hypothesis was that there is no difference in outcome in people who receive occupational therapist-led environmental assessment aiming to reduce falls as compared to those who receive the same intervention from a trained assessor.. The aim of this study was to pilot a randomised controlled trial to develop and test the methods to be used in a large multi-centre randomised controlled trial (RCT), which would investigate the clinical effectiveness of environmental assessment and modification in the prevention of falls in older people. The research questions were:. 1. What is the best RCT design to investigate the clinical effectiveness of environmental assessment and modification?. 2. Does environmental assessment and modification reduce fear of falling, a surrogate outcome, and subsequent falls?. 3. Is environmental assessment and modification more effective if professionally prescribed by an occupational therapist than if provided by a trained assessor?