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Background: Falls are common among older people, and General Practitioners (GPs) could play an important role in implementing strategies to manage fall risk. Despite this, fall prevention is not a routine activity in general practice settings. The iSOLVE cluster randomised controlled trial aimed to evaluate implementation of a fall prevention decision tool in general practice. This paper sought to describe the strategies used and reflect on the enablers and barriers relevant to successful recruitment of general practices, GPs and their patients.Methods: Recruitment was conducted within the geographical area of a Primary Health Network in Northern Sydney, Australia. General practices and GPs were engaged via online surveys, mailed invitations to participate, educational workshops, practitioner networks and promotional practice visits. Patients 65 years or older were recruited via mailed invitations, incorporating the practice letterhead and the name(s) of participating GP(s). Observations of recruitment strategies, results and enabling factors were recorded in field notes as descriptive and narrative data, and analysed using mixed-methods.Results: It took 19 months to complete recruitment of 27 general practices, 75 GPs and 560 patients. The multiple strategies used to engage general practices and GPs were collectively useful in reaching the targeted sample size. Practice visits were valuable in engaging GPs and staff, establishing interest in fall prevention and commitment to the trial. A mix of small, medium and large practices were recruited. While some were recruited as a whole-practice, other practices had few or half of the number of GPs recruited. The importance of preventing falls in older patients, simplicity of research design, provision of resources and logistic facilitation of patient recruitment appealed to GPs. Recruitment of older patients was successfully achieved by mailed invitations which was a strategy that was familiar to practice staff and patients. Patient response rates were above the expected 10% for most practices. Many practices (n = 17) achieved the targeted number of 20 or more patients.Conclusions: Recruitment in general practice settings can be successfully achieved through multiple recruitment strategies, effective communication and rapport building, ensuring research topic and design suit general practice needs, and using familiar communication strategies to engage patients.Trial Registration: The trial was prospectively registered on 29 April 2015 with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry www.anzctr.org.au (trial ID: ACTRN12615000401550). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the results of a questionnaire survey to look at the effectiveness of rails and grooming aids by elderly or disabled persons who had received occupational therapy services in Sydney, Australia. Factors associated with usage and non-usage of commonly used bathing and toileting aids and rails; Ergonomic factors and equipment reliability; Profile of respondents.

Abstract: Known determinants of vitamin D status (measured in serum as 25(OH)Dnmol/L) are exposure to sunlight and intake of vitamin D, either from foods or vitamin supplements. Recently, low vitamin D status in East Asian Australian immigrants has been reported. Thus the aim of this study was to investigate associations with vitamin D status in East Asian Australian immigrant women. In this cross-sectional study of women (n =152 aged 18–92), 25(OH)D levels were measured from serum samples (radio-immuno assay). Demographics, sun exposure patterns, dietary intake and acculturation factors were obtained by questionnaire. In spring, 53% of the study population had serum 25(OH)D levels <50nmol/L (deficiency); whereas in summer only 19% were deficient. Associations with vitamin D deficiency were younger age, higher education, more sun protection behavior, fewer minutes of sun exposure on weekends, low vitamin D and calcium intake through foods or supplements and less acculturation to Australian lifestyle. After multivariate adjustment, those who had no intake of vitamin D supplements (OR=5.6, CI=1.4–22), less sunlight exposure on weekends (OR=2.7, CI=1.0–7.3) and lower acculturation to Australian lifestyle (OR=2.5, CI=1.0–6.3) had increased risk of being deficient in vitamin D. Thus there is a need for vitamin D education in this “at-risk” population. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled ‘Vitamin D Workshop’. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]