REFERENCE · DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUE

Falls, Everyday Function and Follow-Up

Clinician-focused educational reference. Use within professional competence and an agreed assessment plan.

Purpose and Suitability
Anatomy and Physiology
Preparation and Safety
Performing the Assessment
Interpreting Findings
Explaining the Result
Evidence and Limitations
Media and Accessibility
Research and Sources

Purpose and Suitability

Use this assessment to understand injuries, assistance and participation while diagnostic work continues and after a formulation is agreed. It does not diagnose the cause of a fall. Fall frequency and everyday safety answer different questions.

The questions below are an authored clinical documentation aid, not a validated functional-drop-attack outcome scale.

Anatomy and Physiology

A short clinic assessment samples one setting and time. It cannot directly measure exposure to stairs, bathing, outdoor walking or the help needed after an unpredictable event. Assess the person’s actual tasks and environment with consent rather than inferring daily safety from the absence of a fall in clinic.

Preparation and Safety

Agree a manageable recording period and avoid burdensome continuous monitoring. Ask which activities the person wants help with. An OT or physiotherapist can plan safe task/environment assessment; nursing and the medical team can address injury care and medical contributors. Do not reproduce a fall to establish support eligibility.

Performing the Assessment

Authored follow-up record

Domain	Useful record	What not to infer
Events	Falls and near-falls over an agreed period, with uncertainty	Fewer falls need not mean better function if activity fell too
Injury	Injury type, care needed and recovery time	Brief events are not necessarily harmless
Exposure	Activities attempted, avoided or completed with help	Staying home is not equivalent to safe community mobility
Assistance	Aids, supervision, transfers and getting help	A successful clinic walk does not remove support needs
Participation	Chosen household, work, education or social priorities	One activity cannot represent the whole day

Review the same domains at follow-up, including changes in opportunity, equipment and assistance. If a standard mobility measure is used, name it and document testing conditions separately.

Interpreting Findings

Consider diagnosis, observed performance and participation as separate parts of the record. Ask about fear, confidence, distress and mental-health needs without treating them as proof of a psychological cause. A new or changed event returns to the differential assessment, rather than being absorbed automatically into the old formulation.

Explaining the Result

Authored explanation example: “We will record both the falls and what you are able to do with support. That helps us see whether life is becoming safer and more manageable, even if the event count changes slowly.”

Agree one or two meaningful follow-up goals; keep treatment details in the recovery collection.

Evidence and Limitations

Revell and colleagues interviewed seven women recruited through one specialist clinic; only three contributed event diary data. The qualitative model may inform discussion, but cannot establish a universal cause, diagnostic threshold or treatment effect. Recruitment and prior explanations may have influenced findings. Methods and limitations were checked in the full text. The record above is not the study instrument. 1

Media and Accessibility

Use a blank, accessible record or a clearly fictional example. Offer spoken, written or supporter-assisted responses with consent. Do not require symptom footage or public accounts of injuries. Any illustration should show access and support as well as event frequency.

Research and Sources

Citation	Full citation and evidence limit
[1]	Revell ER, Gillespie D, Morris PG, Stone J. Drop attacks as a subtype of FND: a cognitive behavioural model using grounded theory. Epilepsy & Behavior Reports. 2021;16:100491. FND-CIT-0060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebr.2021.100491

Continue: Functional Drop Attacks Diagnostic Inventory

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