Award Date

5-1-2024

Degree Type

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)

Department

Physical Therapy

First Committee Member

Daniel Young

Second Committee Member

Jennifer Nash

Third Committee Member

Merrill Landers

Number of Pages

62

Abstract

As Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, we completed a service-learning project to deliver a free evidence-based fall prevention program to senior residents of Nevada. “Stepping On” is a 7-week fall prevention program from the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging that is designed for older adults who are at risk or fearful of falling or for those who want to increase their awareness of fall prevention strategies. The program includes learning balance and strengthening exercises, discussing fall prevention strategies, and collaborating with community partners and healthcare professionals. The first objective of this service-learning project was to offer the program to metropolitan and rural communities as well as through a virtual platform to improve access to this type of program. We also planned to measure the unique strengths and limitations of each platform through qualitative measures. This objective was measured through participant attendance, student critical analysis where we compared our experiences in leading each program, and feedback from participants, guest experts, and community partners. The project’s second objective was to advance our professional growth as DPT students, which was attained through written self-reflection. We each assessed our professional development in the context of the core values established by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).

There were initially 47 participants between the three platforms. By the end of the seventh week, 77% of the original participants remained. The highest percentage of completion was noted in the Pahrump platform, while the lowest percentage was amongst the Las Vegas platform. Through this project, we acquired leadership skills, improved our communication, adapted our teaching styles towards older adults, and recognized the importance of contributing to the communities’ specific needs. Out of the nine APTA core values, the three that were the most commonly reflected on were duty, collaboration, and compassion and caring. We additionally identified areas for improvement by analyzing our limitations, acknowledging constructive feedback from participants and guest partners, and recognizing areas for future work to enhance future programs. Overall, this service-learning project achieved its primary aims of improving access to an evidence-based fall prevention program in addition to facilitating our professional growth and development as DPT students.

Keywords

Stepping On; Fall Prevention; Service Learning; Physical Therapy; Older Adults

Disciplines

Physical Therapy

File Format

pdf

File Size

1190 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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