The University of Coventry creates an app to help reduce risk of falling at home.

by Ainara Carmona

I recently spoke to Nikki Holliday, a researcher at the Centre for Technology Enabled Health, at the University of Coventry. Nikki, together with other researchers, has developed an app called Fallcheck, with the aim of helping people reduce their risks of falls at their homes.

The idea:

It all began when Coventry University, along with some collaborators (West Midlands Joint Improvement Partnership, NHS Warwickshire and NHS West Midlands) found a disconcerting lack of information sharing between the public and healthcare professionals. Starting from this, they started thinking what they could do to minimise the risks of falling at home and how technology could be used to this end. Enter - the Fallcheck app.

Fallcheck contains all the potential risks that we can find at home. “The app is based on information from occupational therapists and other experts in the field. We worked with occupational therapist and people that were in risk of falling. When we had an approach of the app, we sent out to a wide range of not just occupational therapist but to people working for and with people that were in risk of falling, to make sure all the risks were covered in the app” explained Nikki.

How does it work?

The way the app works is simple. When you start the Fallcheck web app (available on the webpage of the University of Coventry), you will be presented with a menu displaying each room of the house and the outside space. In each room the app guides the user to find all the potential hazards that might be present in that room and that might make the person more likely to fall. Simply taping on the picture of the danger, you will find a short description of the risk. If the hazard is presented in your home, you simply need to add it to your checklist.

Once you have identified all the risk, you can check them out on the personalised checklist. This will give you essential advice on how to reduce or remove the hazards in the home. Even if you exit the app, your checklist will be saved so you can look at it again in the future.

Using technology or gadgets, some hazards can be reduced. Links to useful products or organisations are included in the app to you and find the best solutions for the hazards in your home.

As Nikki explained to me, “although originally older people (60+) were our main target audience, the app is not exclusively restricted to this public. As it is used in smart phones and tablets, younger people like grandchildren or children are more prepared to use it.”

The future:

“We had a very good informal feedback on the project both by individuals and workers. The next stage of the project will be to measure if after implementing the changes proposed by the app, people are more aware of the risks” discloses Nikki.

Good luck in the future and here´s looking forward to the next stage of Fallcheck!

The University of Coventry creates an app to help reduce risk of falling at home.

Replies to This Discussion