284186
Assessing health risks for older workers
Methods: Based on workplace health and older adults health literature, a new risk model was established to incorporate the psycho-social domains—i.e., psychological stress related to work-place problems, work-life demands, and unexpected life-events, in addition to the biomedical and behavioral risks included in existing HRAs. Focus groups and individual interviews with over 30 older workers were convened to assess consumer responses to the instrument. A digital version was tested among 24 older employees at a large hospital for usability.
Findings: Focus groups participants gave insights regarding contents, utility, and limitations of the HRA: priority of health concerns and risk factors; potential use and advantage of the comprehensive instrument; ambivalence between needs for more information about one's health and preference for shorter summary reports; and needs to link results to available services. The usability testing revealed that people generally liked the experience of self-ministering, and skip patterns helped reduce completion burden. Participants were concerned were about the length of time for completing HRA, and suggested avoiding medical jargons and increasing visual appeal.
Learning Objectives:
Identify the need and the importance for assessing health risks among older workers.
Discuss ideas for developing HRA for older workers.
Keywords: Aging, Adult Health
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been working as the project coordinator for this NIA funded project. My research interests are aging, caregiving, and health communication interventions.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.