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The Conference

The 3rd Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference will be held in Melbourne, Victoria from the 12-14 October 2008 and is an initiative of the Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society (ANZFPS). It will follow on the success of the two earlier conferences: 2006 in Brisbane and 2004 in Sydney.

The ANZFPS was formed in 2006 to support and promote falls prevention research, policy, practice and education across all settings, working toward the goal of reducing falls and falls injuries among older people in Australia and NewZealand. Activities range from health promotion and health ageing approaches, through to multifactorial multidisciplinary interventions for those with high levels of risk, and from individual focus through to organisation and system-wide approaches.

The society’s major activities include:

• Holding regular meeting to present and discuss the latest research and clinical findings , policy, practice and education innovations relating to the falls risk factors and falls prevention strategies;
• Managing a website to support falls prevention research and practice;
• Facilitating student participation at ANZFPS meetings through travel grants, low registration fees and presentation awards, and;
• Providing members with email notification about upcoming ANZFPS meetings and other occasional electronic updates.

The theme for the 2008 conference is 'Backing Winners in Falls Prevention' and key topics will include:

• Understanding balance;
• Risk assessment across the continuum;
• Prevention initiatives - community;
• Prevention initiatives - hospital;
• Prevention initiatives - residential care;
• Translating the research evidence into practice;
• High risk clinical groups;
• Cognitive impairment, falls risk, and management;
• Education;

Delegate profile

The 2006 conference in Brisbane attracted over 450 delegates and up to 600 delegates are expected for the Melbourne conference from throughout Australia, New Zealand and overseas.  Delegates are professionals working in the field of ageing in research, education, service provision and policy, including:

• doctors;
• nurses;
• physiotherapists and exercise practitioners;
• occupational therapists;
• psychologists;
• scientists and researchers;
• policy and planning staff;
• clinical risk management staff;
• health promotion workers;
• educators;
• students (undergraduate and postgraduate) interested in falls prevention; and
• other professionals.

Call for Abstracts

If you are interested in submitting an abstract for presentation at the conference please click here to download the pdf version of the Call for Abstracts.

Download Call for Abstracts (PDF Document)