The Impact of Health Education on Health Status: An Experimental Program for Elderly Women in the Community

Abstract

Until recently, little research has been conducted on the effect of health education and promotion programs on older adults. As the number of older adults increase and costs for health care skyrocket, educational efforts aimed at delaying the negative effects of chronic illness will become increasingly important. In this study, a pretest-posttest design was used with a 3-month follow-up assessment to determine whether participation in a teacher-directed or learner-paced health education program was related to changes in health-risk status, cholesterol levels, blood pressure readings, or life satisfaction. The program, sponsored by a community health department, enrolled 78 women with a mean age of 71 living in the suburban areas of a large metropolitan county. Women who were randomly assigned to one of the intervention groups were more likely to reduce their stress levels, decrease salt consumption, and decrease their systolic blood pressure.