Cost Effective Health Promotion for Older Adults

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.