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ABSTRACT
In the clinical setting, previous studies have shown personalized risk assessment and communication improves risk perception and motivation. We evaluated an online health calculator that estimated and presented six different measures of life expectancy/mortality based on a person’s sociodemographic and health behavior profile. Immediately after receiving calculator results, participants were invited to complete an online survey that asked how informative and motivating they found each risk measure, whether they would share their results and whether the calculator provided information they need to make lifestyle changes. Over 80% of the 317 survey respondents found at least one of six healthy living measures highly informative and motivating, but there was moderate heterogeneity regarding which measures respondents found most informative and motivating. Overall, health age was most informative and life expectancy most motivating. Approximately 40% of respondents would share the results with their clinician (44%) or social networks (38%), although the information they would share was often different from what they found informative or motivational. Online personalized risk assessment allows for a more personalized communication compared to historic paper-based risk assessment to maximize knowledge and motivation, and people should be provided a range of risk communication measures that reflect different risk perspectives.
Acknowledgments
This independent study was funded by Canada Health Infoway Inc.
The opinions, results, and conclusions reported in this manuscript are those of the authors. No endorsement by the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute or Canada Health Infoway is intended or should be inferred.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Douglas G. Manuel
DM conceived the study; KA and CB made substantial contributions to the design of the study. DM, KA, RP, SB, and CB contributed to acquisition and interpretation of data. CB drafted the manuscript and all authors contributed to revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Kasim E. Abdulaziz
DM conceived the study; KA and CB made substantial contributions to the design of the study. DM, KA, RP, SB, and CB contributed to acquisition and interpretation of data. CB drafted the manuscript and all authors contributed to revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Richard Perez
DM conceived the study; KA and CB made substantial contributions to the design of the study. DM, KA, RP, SB, and CB contributed to acquisition and interpretation of data. CB drafted the manuscript and all authors contributed to revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Sarah Beach
DM conceived the study; KA and CB made substantial contributions to the design of the study. DM, KA, RP, SB, and CB contributed to acquisition and interpretation of data. CB drafted the manuscript and all authors contributed to revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Carol Bennett
DM conceived the study; KA and CB made substantial contributions to the design of the study. DM, KA, RP, SB, and CB contributed to acquisition and interpretation of data. CB drafted the manuscript and all authors contributed to revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.