Cost Effective Health Promotion for Older Adults

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This project tests the cost-effectiveness of two promising evidence-based health promotion/ behavior change interventions. The first intervention is the COACH Program, a revised version of the Health Enhancement Program (HEP) that has been implemented to date with older adults at multiple Senior Centers across the country (Leveille et al, 1998). The second is the web-based RealAge program which is also being implemented for older adults at multiple sites nationally and internationally. The Coach program combines a web-based risk assessment with individualized counselling. In contrast, RealAge is a totally web-based program. The specific hypotheses that we will test in the proposed cost-effectiveness study are shown below. Primary Study Hypotheses: COACH participants will experience significantly greater reductions in absenteeism, disability days, and healthcare use and cost at 6 and 12 months than RealAge participants. Participants in both the COACH and RealAge treatment groups will experience significantly greater reductions in absenteeism, disability days, and healthcare use and cost than control group participants at 6 and 12 months. Secondary Study Hypotheses: COACH participants will experience significantly greater levels of adherence to health promotion Action Plans and greater reduction in weight, body mass index, blood pressure and depression and greater increase in vitality and quality of life than RealAge participants at 6 and 12 months. Participants in both the COACH and RealAge treatment arms will experience significantly better outcomes on these measures at 6 and 12 months than control group participants.

Official Title
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Cost Effective Health Promotion for Older Adults

Conditions
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Working Adults

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: COACH
* Behavioral: RealAge


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Current employee of the University of Illinois at Chicago 40+ years of age Exclusion Criteria: Those not currently employed by the University of Illinois at Chicago Those under the age of 40

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 40 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Allocation: Randomized
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: COACH<br>web-based risk assessments with an action plan that is negotiated with a Coach who provides personalized follow-up reinforcement | Behavioral: COACH<br> <br> |
| Experimental: RealAge<br>a web-based health risk assessment and risk profile with disease-specific follow-up reinforcement modules | Behavioral: RealAge<br> <br> |
| No Intervention: light health education control<br> | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |