eFit – HCP: Falls & Mobility

A fall is a sudden and unintentional change in position resulting in an individual landing at a lower level such as on an object, the floor, or the ground, with or without injury. ⁽¹⁾

Mobility is broadly defined as the ability to move oneself (e.g. by walking, by using assistive devices or by using transportation) within community environments that expand from one’s home to the neighborhood and to regions beyond.

Mobility is fundamental to active aging and is intimately linked to health status and quality of life. Although there is widespread acceptance regarding the importance of mobility in older adults, there have been few attempts to comprehensively portray mobility, and research has to a large extent been discipline-specific. The concept of mobility is portrayed through 5 fundamental categories of determinants (cognitive, psychosocial, physical, environmental and financial), with gender, culture and biography (personal life history) conceptualized as critical crosscutting influences. ⁽²⁾