The elderly are a growing population segment that is characterized as having a wide range of health care needs. Health promotion and disease prevention is described as one way of containing the health care demands of an aging population. One dimension of prevention is health risk appraisal. Health risk appraisal is a method of estimating individual risk for specific health problems based on predictive relationships between risk indicators and the incidence of the functional disability or disease.
The aim of risk appraisal is to identify risk indicators that subsequently can be managed by the individual or health care giver to retard or reduce loss of function and illness. Although it is known that there are multiple interactive factors that contribute to health risk, advances in computer technology now make it possible to analyze complex interrelationships among health risk indicators which can facilitate accuracy in clinical nursing decision making. The purpose of this project is to develop and pilot test a comprehensive computerized health risk appraisal program for elderly adults. The program will be designed to quantify an individual's health risk(s) to be used as a casefinding tool in elderly adult populations. Health risk is determined by comparing the health data obtained from the individual with groups of persons who in the past have shared the same risk indicators or set of indicators. It is anticipated that the project outcome will be computerized case finding package of validated questions that can be used to estimate health risk for elderly adults. Pilot testing of the computerized health risk appraisal for functional disability in the elderly will determine the validity and reliability of the risk estimate and the effectiveness of its use by nurses untrained in gerontology. In addition, results of the pilot test will lay the groundwork for expanded validity and reliability studies as well as generate a data base for designing longitudinal studies of the effects of health risk appraisal in free living elderly adults. This project has the potential for providing cost-effective preventive care for large numbers of elderly adults. The ultimate goal is to assist the elderly to maintain independence and to enhance quality of life.
