Dr. Samuel Nyman is part of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, led by Professor Ormerod at the University of Salford, who are to investigate the outdoor environment and older people’s resilience to falls. They have been awarded a grant from the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing phase 3 funding call; a major initiative involving all the research councils and UK health departments to support multi-disciplinary research addressing factors across the life course that influence healthy ageing and wellbeing in later life.
The study, named Go Far (Going Outdoors: Falls, Ageing & Resilience), will be a year-long pilot study with seven other research centres. Working with Dr. Ballinger (University of Southampton) and Professor Phillips (Swansea University), Dr. Nyman’s contribution will be to explore through focus groups older people’s perceptions of the key risk factors for falling in the outdoor environment. This aspect of the project will lead to an understanding of the environmental risk factors which have yet to be accounted for in the current evidence base. Overall, the project will develop a greater understanding of the many factors involved in outdoor falls and create practical tools which will significantly help older people’s health and wellbeing.
