Prevalence and correlates of doctor-geriatric patient lifestyle discussions: analysis of ADEPT videotapes.

Background: This study identifies the prevalence and correlates of physician-geriatric patient discussions about physical activity and nutrition lifestyle behaviors.

Methods: Between August 1998 and July 2000, 423 older patient visits to 36 physicians were videotaped in three different primary care settings. The patient sample was primarily white, female, well-educated, and financially sufficient, although 12.

Understanding primary care physicians' propensity to assess elderly patients for depression using interaction and survey data.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine primary care physicians' propensity to assess their elderly patients for depression using data from videotapes and patient and physician surveys.

Study Design: An observational study was informed by surveys of 389 patients and 33 physicians, and 389 videotapes of their clinical interactions. Secondary quantitative analyses used video data scored by the Assessment of Doctor-Elderly Patient Transactions system regarding depression assessment.

A national dissemination of an evidence-based self-management program: a process evaluation study.

While evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of many health education interventions, few of these evidence-based programs have been systematically or widely disseminated. This paper reports on the dissemination of one such intervention, the 6-week peer-led Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, throughout a large health-care system, Kaiser Permanente. We describe the dissemination process and, using qualitative analysis of interviews and surveys, discuss the factors that aided and hindered this process and make recommendations for similar dissemination projects.

Do elderly Medicare recipients contact physicians appropriately?

Objectives: This research identified characteristics of persons and their illness episodes that predict appropriate and inappropriate decisions to seek medical care.

Methods: This study analyzes 1,292 health care decisions of 885 elderly members of an HMO in Los Angeles. Illness episodes are divided into three categories based on the expertise of a panel of 22 geriatricians, using a formal mathematical analysis derived from anthropological consensus theory.

Personal constitution and health status among Chinese elderly in Taipei and Los Angeles.

This paper reports ethnographic and statistical data on the indigenous Chinese concept of constitution (ti-zhi) and its association with health status. The data were obtained through in-depth interviews with 203 Chinese elderly residing in Taipei and Los Angeles. The informants used several dimensions to characterize their constitutions.