Living Well With a Disability Health Promotion Intervention: Improved Health Status for Consumers and Lower Costs for Health Care Policymakers.

Abstract

Objective: Investigate effectiveness of a health promotion intervention for adults with mobility impairments. Study Design: Interrupted time series, staggered baseline quasi-experimental with random assignment to treatment start date. Setting: 9 Centers for Independent Living in 8 states. Participants: Adults with mobility impairments living independently (N 188). Intervention: Living Well With a Disability: Facilitated group health promotion (16 hr over 8 weeks). Main Outcomes Measures: Secondary conditions, symptom days, health care utilization. Results: Reductions in limitation from secondary conditions, symptom days, and health care utilization over the intervention period. Effects on secondary conditions maintained for 12 months. Overall cost savings of $807 per person (total for sample $151,716) projected from reductions in health care utilization of study sample. Conclusions: Health promotion interventions can increase quality of life while helping to control health care costs.