Feasibility of repeated use of the Health Risk Appraisal for Older people system as a health promotion tool in community-dwelling older people: retrospective cohort study 2001-05

• Published in: Age and ageing Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 128 - 131
• Main Authors: Kharicha, Kalpa, Iliffe, Steve, Harari, Danielle, Swift, Cameron G., Goodman, Claire, Manthorpe, Jill, Gillmann, Gerhard, Stuck, Andreas E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Feasibility; Female; Health; Health Behavior; Health promotion; Health Promotion - methods; Health Status Indicators; Humans; Lifestyle; Male; Older people; Preventive health care; Residence Characteristics; Retrospective Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0002-0729; 1468-2834
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afr126

Promotion of health and prevention of disability in later life continue to be major health policy priorities in England. A system of NHS self-completion on-line Life Checks has been developed which could potentially contribute to health gain in those who use it. However, a web-based health assessment tool may not be the most effective way to reach the older population; an alternative method would be to use general practitioners' lists. The Health Risk Appraisal for Older people (HRA-O) system is the most extensively evaluated approach for promoting health and well-being in later life. A self-completion, multidimensional postal questionnaire collects information on health, functional status, health behaviours, preventive care and psychosocial factors. Based on a computer expert system's analysis of questionnaire responses, it profiles individuals' health and lifestyle and gives tailored advice in the form of a printed report on maximising health, lifestyle changes and preventive care and suggests useful local sources of help. The acceptability and feasibility of the HRA-O in British primary care has been reported but its performance when used repeatedly by a cohort of older people has yet to be studied. Using data from the London arm of a European Union funded RCT (Pro-Age) and an English Department of Health funded follow-up study (SWISH), this paper explores the feasibility of repeated HRA-O use by reporting response rates to HRA-O use on three occasions over 4 years and by describing characteristics of non-responders within this retrospective cohort of older people. Adapted from the source document.