Effects of teach-back health education (TBHE) based on WeChat mini-programs in preventing falls at home for urban older adults in China: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Falls are common among adults aged 60 years and older because of physiological changes. Most falls in older adults occur most often at home. Coupled with the lack of awareness and knowledge of preventing falls, the proportion of injuries and deaths among older adults due to falls is increasing yearly. Our study developed a WeChat mini-program for urban elderly to implement teach-back health education (TBHE) that a repeated cycle process of health education, assessment, and re-education in preventing falls at home. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the application effect of the TBHE-based WeChat mini-program on health education knowledge for fall prevention at home for urban older adults. DESIGN: A single-blinded, two-arm parallel-group, randomized controlled trial was conducted. SETTING: Three residential communities, named Hot Spring Apartment, Hualinyuan, and Dongtang Community in Gulou District, Fuzhou, China. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were older adults recruited from communities in Fuzhou from January to March 2021. METHODS: Fifty-nine participants agreed to participate and were assigned randomly to the intervention group (n = 29) or the control group receiving traditional health education (n = 30). Each participant in the intervention group received twice a week for a total of 8 weeks of health education interventions performed by the first author that she is intervenor according to specific themes. The trial statistician, recruiters, and participants were blinded to group allocation. The intervenor (first author) was blinded to the study hypotheses. To evaluate the effects of the intervention, we assessed participants’ knowledge total score and scores of physiology and disease; drug application; mental, cognitive, and spiritual well-being; lifestyle; and house environment at baseline and 1-week post-intervention and compared scores between two groups. A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted to examine the effects of time, group, and their interaction. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in knowledge of house environment (p = 0.003) between the two groups. Within groups, total and five dimensions knowledge scores had a significant difference (p < 0.001). Moreover, interaction effects were significant on drug application (p = 0.012) and mental, cognitive, and spiritual well-being (p = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: The TBHE can improve knowledge on fall prevention at home among urban older adults. The TBHE based on the WeChat mini-program could enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of being educated among urban older adults. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Register: ChiCTR2100052946; reg date: 06/11/2021. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03297-9.