Evaluating 13 Years of the Flemish Falls Prevention Awareness Week: Registration Data and Survey-Based Insights
Abstract
Introduction
Falls are a major cause of morbidity among older adults, with physical, psychological and economic consequences. Despite effective interventions, implementation remains limited, making awareness initiatives essential to encourage recognition of fall risks and effective falls prevention interventions.
Method
The Flemish Falls Prevention Awareness Week is coordinated by the Centre of Expertise for Falls and Fracture Prevention Flanders in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the Flemish Institute for Healthy Living and loco-regional healthcare networks. Campaign participation has been monitored since 2012 through a structured online registration form capturing organisational characteristics and campaign engagement. Evaluation data on reach, satisfaction and uptake of materials were collected annually via online surveys. Registration data and survey responses were reviewed to describe trends in campaign reach, user satisfaction and uptake over 13 years.
Results
Campaign reach expanded substantially over time, with participation increasing from 496 registered organisations in 2012 to 1,690 in 2025, spanning residential and nursing care facilities, community organisations, primary care, hospitals and home-care services, and demonstrating broad cross-sectoral engagement throughout Flanders. Participant satisfaction remained consistently high across evaluation years. While earlier assessments showed very positive ratings of individual materials, recent surveys confirmed sustained approval of the overall campaign concept and theme, with 96.7% of respondents in 2024 and 92.7% in 2025 reporting satisfaction or strong satisfaction. Uptake further reflected this impact, with 103,587 campaign materials ordered in 2024 and 132,961 in 2025, indicating strong and increasing demand.
Conclusion
The Falls Prevention Awareness Week has evolved into a large-scale and sustainable public health initiative in Flanders. By achieving extensive reach, consistently positive user evaluations and high uptake of materials, the campaign represents an important first step in fostering awareness and supporting the integration of evidence-based fall-prevention principles into everyday practice.
Comments
Falls Prevention Awareness Week
This is a great piece of work, congratulation. I was only wondering about the financial aspect of the campaign. Was the Centre of Expertise for Falls and Fracture Prevention Flanders financially supported for providing material? Being able to continue for such a long time the campaign, also personnel continuity would be another interesting question.
Great work and the poster is…
Great work and the poster is fabulous, a great example of public health consistently maintained to inform about falls. It would be interesting to see how the public health campaign aligns with falls data in Belgium and public attitude/ awareness to falls.