Active ageing for fall prevention

Project Description:

The Erasmus + Sport Active aginig for fall prevention project defines active aging as maintaining and caring for individual well-being, good physical, social and mental health with the inclusion of the elderly in the family and community during the entire aging process. The importance of regular physical activity for the health of the elderly is clearly defined in many scientific works. With the current progress of science, we expect the extension of human life span, so our central concern is to add a healthy and active year of life to the added years and thereby promote a high, health-related quality of life in old age.

Added Value:

NIJZ will participate in all work packages (WPs) and will lead WP3 – Development of an exercise program for the elderly to prevent falls and development of learning materials. NIJZ will participate in several tasks, including literature review, testing of the exercise program in local communities and dissemination activities. The ADDIE model will be used to develop capacity building tools.

Added value for Slovenia:

Implementation of pilot testing of the training program (feasibility and efficiency check) in 4 EU countries; implementation of the post-pilot exercise program Healthy Exercise ABC+ in activities from the field of physical activity of the Together for Health program; implementation of an exercise program at the primary health care level for the primary prevention of sarcopenia, age-related frailty and falls in adults. (55+); transfer of competencies to colleagues in sports (sports clubs) and non-governmental organizations that support the implementation of the preventive program Together for Health in local communities.

Expected Results and Material:

The results of the project will help to encourage older people to participate in physical activity and sports, to promote equal opportunities for older adults in physical activity and to strengthen the capacity of organizations for international and intersectoral action in the promotion of physical activity for health. As part of the project, we will develop educational material for the empowerment of practitioners in the field of physical activity and sports. We will design a progressive, 3-month exercise program for seniors focused on the primary prevention of falls in older adults. The exercise program will include exercise for muscular capacity, balance and functional movement patterns. We will prepare a digital manual of the exercise program for the elderly and training materials according to the “train the trainers” model; We will prepare guidelines for sports and non-governmental organizations on how to prepare and implement a specific training program (all capacity building tools will be published in open access on the project landing page).

Project Duration: 1. 1. 2024 – 1. 1. 2026.

Supporting Organisation: Športna unija Slovenije (ŠUS), Slovenija.

Project partners: International sport and culture association – ISCA, Danska; Urho kekkosen kuntoinstituuttisaatio (ukk institut), Finska; Azur sport sante (AZURO), Francija; Centro Universitario Sportivo Palermo (CUSP), Italija;  Nacionalni inštitut za javno zdravje (NIJZ), Slovenija.

Funding: European Commission.