Queensland Stay On Your Feet® Toolkit - Falls prevention in action

Stay on Your Feet Wide Bay/Burnett trial project

The Queensland Stay on Your Feet® Wide Bay/Burnett trial project is an example of a local social marketing campaign. The campaign included a 30-second television commercial featuring an older couple playing cricket with their family (provided free of charge by Northern Rivers Area Health Service). The key message of the commercial was keeping active with family and friends. The commercial was aired on three regional television networks between June to November 2005 and January to April 2006. Supporting printed materials, including a series of physical activity brochures, were also produced and distributed [100]. Evaluation (post-CATI survey) of the trial project indicated that 29 per cent of respondents were more likely to have heard about falls prevention in the media. This was a statistically significant increase in media awareness [119].

Stay On Your Feet WA® social marketing campaign

Western Australia conducted a statewide social marketing campaign titled 'Stay On Your Feet WA® and avoid a shattering experience'. The campaign targeted West Australians aged 60 years and over, with a focus on those with a high risk of falling but low self-perceived risk and those with a high risk of falling but high self-perceived risk. The campaign aimed to raise the personal relevance of falls and the serious consequences of a fall but also to reinforce that there are solutions [160]. A range of methods was used to reach the target group including a mass media advertising campaign with a related brochure, booklet and checklist distributed throughout Western Australia, direct mail, website, publicity, resources, stakeholder liaison and community and volunteer events [160]. The campaign was very successful, with evaluation indicating:

  • two thirds (68 per cent) of respondents were spontaneously able to describe the Stay On Your Feet WA® campaign, with equal spontaneous descriptions of 'problem' (36 per cent) and 'solution' (34 per cent)
  • one in five respondents (19 per cent) indicated that they had made a change to reduce their (or another person's) risk of falling in the last month and 26 per cent intended to change in the next six months [160].

Last updated: 2 October 2012