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document
Health promotion and disease prevention for older adults : opportunity for change or preaching to the converted ? Health promotion and disease prevention for the elderly offer the potential for improving the quality of life for the growing population of older adults , while reducing the economic burden on the health system . Whether this potential can be realized depends , in part , on whether those older adults whose health behaviors put them at risk actually use preventive services when offered the opportunity . In 1988 the Health Care Financing Administration began a series of health promotion demonstrations to address health issues related to older adults . This article reports on program participation at one of the five demonstration sites . Over 1,900 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries who receive their health care through fee-for-service providers were enrolled in the demonstration . These enrollees were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups , with the latter offered health screening and promotion services . Nine hundred-seventy-three of the experimental subjects and 938 of the control subjects completed a lengthy telephone interview , which determined each person 's use of preventive services and practices . Although all 973 experimental subjects were invited by letter and follow-up telephone calls to attend these free-of-charge , Medicare-provided sessions , not everyone attended . We analyzed 17 health behaviors of those who attended the first session and those who did not . Those engaging in these preventive behaviors were neither more nor less likely to attend the screening services . Thus , we found neither " favorable " nor " unfavorable " selection bias in the use of these preventive services .
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Intervention_Educational
preventive services
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Intervention_Educational
health promotion demonstrations
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Intervention_Control
control
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Intervention_Educational
health screening
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Intervention_Educational
promotion services
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Participant_Age
older adults :
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Participant_Age
the elderly
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Participant_Age
older adults
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Participant_Condition
health behaviors put them at risk
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Participant_Condition
1988 the Health Care Financing Administration
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Participant_Age
older adults .
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Participant_Sample-size
1,900 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries
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Participant_Sample-size
Nine hundred-seventy-three
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Participant_Condition
completed a lengthy telephone interview , which determined each person 's use of preventive services and practices