ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: In a social environment in which prevention of falls in older people has become a public health issue, adaptation of housing for older people is particularly important. Based on the home-identity concept, the objective of this research was to design an educational model specifically adapted to the context of a Social Housing Company (SHC), focussing on elderly tenants who have experienced a fall in order to allow them to adapt their lodgings and avoid subsequent falls. METHOD: This article describes design-based research (DBR), which enabled the research committee (composed of professionals, tenants, and researchers) to construct the educational intervention based on analysis of the SHC context. RESULTS: The creation of a common approach within the research committee and the production of design-linked intentions enabled the creation of a formal intervention composed of four educational sessions, involving a private occupational therapist, an SHC social worker and a caretaker. DISCUSSION: The use of DBR can be justified by the research goal, i.e. validation of an educational model (based on the theoretical home-identity model) that can be transposed to a SHC. As this research is still underway, its quality criteria will only be partially described and will be completed by field experimentation. CONCLUSION: This exploratory study could eventually result in interventional research designed to assess this model in a multifactorial therapeutic patient education programme for older people at high risk of falls (e.g.: Personnes Âgées En Risque de Perte d'Autonomie device).
