Introduction and Outline

This instructor training workshop will equip allied health professionals with the knowledge and skills to safely and effectively deliver the evidence-based fall prevention LiFE program to older people in their homes. Learn how to identify opportunities to integrate balance and strength activities into daily routines, conduct ability assessments, activity planning, upgrading and monitoring, and develop the skills that enable positive habitual change in your older clients.

What is LiFE?

The Lifestyle-integrated Functional Exercise (LiFE) program is a way of reducing the risk of falls by integrating balance and strength activities into regular daily tasks. Unloading the dishwasher becomes an opportunity to improve strength. Brushing your teeth becomes an opportunity to improve balance. In the LiFE program, every daily task becomes an opportunity to improve balance and strength. This is a different approach to a traditional program where you would be required to complete a series of exercises a certain number of times a day for a set number of days each week.

What this workshop offers

This instructor training workshop will equip allied health professionals with the knowledge and skills to safely and effectively deliver the LiFE program with older people in their homes for fall prevention, improved functional capacity and independence. Topics to be covered include physiological principles of balance and functional integrated exercise concepts, LiFE programming including the LiFE conceptual model, daily balance and strength activity integration, activity planning and recording, and positive habit formation. The LiFE Program is an evidence-based program which is effective in reducing falls and improved functional capacity in at risk people older people 75 years and older residing in the community (ref). Positive outcomes of the LiFE program have since been replicated globally and is considered a valuable option for engaging older people with healthy ageing activities in their homes.

Content includes:

  • Instruction on delivering balance and strength functionally integrated exercises
  • Assessment tools
  • Activity planners
  • Developing action plans
  • How to upgrade activities, and implementing LiFE in practice.
  • Interactive activities include practicing LiFE activities and case studies.

Upon successful completion of this workshop, you should be able to:

  • Identify the risk factors for falls in older people
  • Describe the physiology of balance and the factors that affect it
  • Describe the evidence for fall prevention interventions
  • Explain the importance of balance and strength exercise for fall prevention and improving function in older people
  • Explain and teach the concepts underpinning the LiFE Program.
  • Demonstrate and instruct balance and strength activities in the LiFE program, including upgrading of activities
  • Conduct client activity assessments and identify opportunities for embedding LiFE activities into client routines
  • Instruct client on positive habit formation
  • Provide clients with the information, resources and skills for sustained, safe and independent participation in the LiFE program activities.

Continuing Professional Development Lifestyle-Functional Exercise (LiFE) Online Instructor Training workshop

The LiFE program is for anyone who is at risk of falling. Participants must be able to comprehend the program and not have a cognitive impairment. They must be able to safely perform LiFE activities unsupervised. They should not have a neurological condition that affects their balance.

Who should become a LiFE instructor?

Occupational therapists, physiotherapists and exercise physiologists who are interest in falls, falls prevention, aged care, allied health care, functional capacity, behaviour change, habit change, home based exercise, balance, strength, incidental exercise.

A downloadable certificate is available at course completion. This is designed to support Continuing Professional Development requirements (e.g. CPD (Australia, Canada, Britain), PDU (US)). There is also a checklist, if needed, to demonstrate completed activities throughout the modules.

Before becoming an LiFE instructor, therapists need to:

  1. Complete this workshop along with support from the LiFE Participant Manual
  2. Practice the activities in the LiFE Participant Manual themselves
  3. Spend time implementing the program into their own daily routine
  4. Understand the importance of progressing balance challenge by upgrading LiFE activities
  5. Understand how to complete and appreciate the importance of recording sheets that accompany the program.

It is strongly recommended that before teaching the program, therapists and trainers implement the LiFE program, or significant sections of it into their own routines.

Course Content

Pre-course information

M1: The importance of balance and introduction to the LiFE Program

  • Community fall prevention – what is the evidence?
  • The evidence for high balance challenge
  • What is balance and how do we challenge it?
  • The evidence for the LiFE Program
  • Introduction to the LiFE program

M2: LiFE Program – overview

  • Key element of the LiFE program
  • Expectations for LiFE participants
  • LiFE Program implementation overview
  • Participant manual overview

M3: Teaching the Program

  • Teaching the program – strategies
  • Teach the balance principles and activities
  • Practical activity – embedding balance activity into ADLs
  • Teaching the strength principles and activities
  • Practical activity – embedding strength activity into ADLs

M4: Assessing ability and Identifying opportunity

  • Identifying opportunity – Daily routine chart (DRC)
  • Assessing ability – LiFE Assessment Tool (LAT)
  • PRACTICAL 1: Assessment of ability and identifying opportunity

M5: Planning and recording the LiFE activities

  • LiFE Planning and recording tools
    • Activity Planner
    • Activity Counter
    • Record keeping LiFE activities – rationale and performance
  • PRACTICAL 2: UPGRADING

M6:  LiFE Program Conceptual model

  • Beliefs
  • Habit Change
  • Embedding activities into daily routine
  • Challenge the Participant

M7: A guide for what to do in each visit

  • Session 1
  • Sessions 2-5
  • Throughout each session
  • Sessions 6-7 (booster sessions)
  • Phone calls

M8 PRACTICAL: Implementing the LIFE Program CASE STUDIES

  • Brief reflective piece on how to implement real world program implementation in your healthcare context (reflection activity)
  • Implementing LiFE into your everyday practice.

Cost

$165.00 (GST inclusive). This also includes the participant manual.

About the authors

Professor Lindy Clemson
Lindy is a recognised international leader in enablement and environmental approaches to community-based falls prevention. She has led the development of three novel and successful fall prevention programs, all implemented world-wide. She has conducted nationally-funded trials to test the efficacy of interventions, including Stepping On, a group-based fall prevention program and the Lifestyle-integrated Functional Exercise (LiFE) program, and has developed assessments and interventions related to environment and behavioural fall risk. Her current work is conducting research to investigate ways to translate evidence into practice and collaborative projects to explore interventions for high-risk groups.  Her work has influenced both policy and practice, and her publications are highlighted in Cochrane Reviews, the Australian and US national fall prevention practice guidelines and in the US compendium of effective community-based falls prevention interventions. Her research expertise includes multi-methodology inquiries, intervention trials and implementation science.

Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh
Professor Maria A. Fiatarone Singh is a geriatrician whose research, clinical, and teaching career has focused on the integration of medicine, exercise physiology, and nutrition as a means to improve health status and quality of life across the lifespan. She has held the inaugural John Sutton Chair of Exercise and Sport Science in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and Professorship, Sydney Medical School, at the University of Sydney since 1999. Prof Fiatarone Singh has designed and carried out many clinical trials and longitudinal studies in Australia and the USA, including large multi-centre trials of exercise and chronic disease prevention and treatment. She has had continuous substantial NIH funding from 1989-2004, and NH&MRC funding since 1999 when she came to Australia. She has published extensively in the area of health implications of exercise and nutrition, having authored/edited one book, authored over 170 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Course pre-reading materials
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Course Details

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3 hrs

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$165.00 (GST inclusive). This also includes the participant manual.

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eLearning

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Continuing professional development (CPD & PDU)

Course Information

Course Content

Modules Status
1

Welcome

2

M1: An introduction to the LiFE Program

3

M2: LiFE Program overview

4

M3: LiFE Activities and Principles