DO TAILORED BEHAVIOR-CHANGE MESSAGES ENHANCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH RISK APPRAISAL - RESULTS FROM A RANDOMIZED TRIAL

Health risk appraisal (HRA) remains one of the most widely used health promotion tools despite only equivocal evidence for its effectiveness . Theories of behavior change predict conventional HRA's ineffectivene ss because risk information alone is seldom sufficient to change compl ex behaviors, In this study, a randomized trial compared the effects o f feedback from an enhanced HRA with a typical HRA and a control group among adult patients from eight family medicine practices, The enhanc ed HRA assessed behavior-specific psychosocial factors and provided pa tients with computer-generated, individually-tailored behavior change information in addition to typical HRA risk feedback, Changes in seven behaviors were assessed at a 6 month follow-up, Overall, patients rec eiving enhanced HRA feedback were 18% more likely to change at least o ne risk behavior than were patients receiving typical HRA feedback or no feedback (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.00, 1.39), The enhanced HRA feedbac k appeared to promote changes in cholesterol screening, dietary fat co nsumption and physical activity, but not in smoking, seat belt use, ma mmography and Pap smears, We conclude that the addition of theory-base d, individually-tailored behavior change information may improve the e ffectiveness of HRA.