Lay summary
Older people fall frequently in residential aged care with disastrous consequences including injury and hospitalisation. Preventing falls in care homes has been difficult. This project tests an exercise programme specifically designed for people with dementia in comparison to seated exercises to see if falls and injury from falls can be prevented. Cost effectiveness analyses will see whether there is a return on investment. If this exercise programme is successful, those in care homes will benefit and costs will be saved. A novel feature of this application is body worn sensor monitoring of participants to establish gait parameters and activity patterns. Amount of activity will be used as an outcome for the trial, falls/active time, and gait patterns and parameters will be examined between those with and without dementia and in response to the programme. Individualised programmes designed specifically to meet newly identified patterns will be designed to prevent falls.