Stay On Your Feet - Phase 3: Implement - Step 3A: Test before you act

Step 3A: Test before you act

Now you have finalised your action plan, it’s time to test before you act.

This means making sure your messages, materials and strategies are appropriate before they are more widely used, or conducting formative evaluation or pilot testing. This step is usually only necessary if using newly developed materials. If you decide to use the Queensland Stay On Your Feet® resources, these have already been focus tested and have consistent key messages suitable for the target audience.

If developing new messages, materials and strategies for your project/program, it is wise to test draft and existing materials with a small group selected from your community, organisation or stakeholders to identify any issues prior to a wider roll-out. If you plan to use Stay On Your Feet® resources, these have been tested previously so this process should be unnecessary.

Testing before you act is important to determine if:

• materials and resources, such as brochures, can be understood, accepted and used by the target group ^[18]
• the strategy is feasible, appropriate, meaningful and accepted by the target group eg. a home visit by occupational therapist for hazard assessment and home modifications ^[18].

During the pilot testing, collect data to help determine the messages, materials and strategies that should be widely used through surveys, focus testing, field work or observation. The pilot test trial will help to answer:

• what worked?
• what did not work?
• what needs to be changed?
• what should be kept?
• should we proceed with implementation more widely ^[29]?

The information collected from pilot testing, together with the evidence of what works for falls prevention and healthy active ageing, will help to finalise messages, materials and strategies to be used more widely for the project/program.