Focusing on ‘Falls Detection and Prevention Using Smartphone Technology,’ this seminar will be an opportunity to hear from Dr Helen Hawley Hague (University of Manchester) and Professor Dawn Skelton (Glasgow Caledonian University.)

Specialising in the area of Falls Prevention, Helen and Dawn are involved in the ProFouND (Prevention of Falls Network for Dissemination) Thematic Network and the FARSEEING research project which focus on promoting independent living for older adults and preventing fall-related injuries.

Context: Falls in older people can lead to a number of problems such as injury, isolation, anxiety and greater dependence on carers. With an ageing population, Falls prevention is becoming an increasingly important challenge for health and social care providers.

This seminar will explore how smartphones can be used for the detection and prevention of falls. Dr Helen Hawley Hague will discuss how we engage older people in the use of technology, using smartphones as an instrumented assessment tool, movement detector, alarm system and to deliver falls exercise rehabilitation to older people.

Speakers
Dr Helen Hawley Hague is a Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, she has worked both in the NHS and research in the area of older people, falls, exercise and long term conditions for over 12 years. She worked on the European FP7 funded FARSEEING Project which aimed to promote better prediction, identification and prevention of falls with a focus on technological devices and the proactive opportunities they can provide to older adults to support them in their own environment. She took the lead on the work on behaviour change and attitudes towards technology, including advising on the design of technology so as to encourage older people engagement with it. She has a research interest in healthy active ageing and exercise adherence. She is now Scientific Co-ordinator for The Prevention of Falls Network for Dissemination (ProFouND) and an NIHR Research Fellow (focused on smartphone technology and delivery of evidence based strength and balance within health services).

Professor Dawn Skelton is a partner in the ProFouND project and was previously a Scientific Co-ordinator of the EC funded ProFaNE (Prevention of Falls Network Europe) project at the University of Manchester. Specialising in exercise interventions to prevent falls and other conditions of ageing, she is an exercise physiologist working with older people and professionals working with older people. Professor Skelton runs a number of training courses with allied health professionals, is a commissioned author for WHO and the Department of Health and has also worked as an NHS Falls researcher at Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority.

For further information and to book a place, visit: www.informatics.manchester.ac.uk/news/Pages/FallsPreventionMonitoringSeminar.aspx