AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange Focuses on Improving Self-Management of Chronic Conditions

The latest issue of AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange features three programs that used innovative strategies to improve disease-related knowledge and self-management behaviors among vulnerable populations. [[One of the profiles]] describes the Posts Working for Veterans' Health (POWER) Program, in which trained peers educate and support veterans in managing their blood pressure during regularly scheduled monthly meetings at Veterans Service Organization posts. After undergoing initial training, these peer leaders have a visible presence at every meeting, helping peers check and record their blood pressure and weight, distributing self-management tools and delivering scripted presentations on various topics to promote self-management. Peer leaders receive ongoing support through regular meetings with program leaders, while contests encourage peer leaders, posts and individual post members to remain focused on management of blood pressure and related behavior changes. The program led to improvements in blood pressure, weight and various measures of self-management, with some of these improvements being statistically different from those in a group of posts where members attended periodic educational seminars on hypertension delivered by a health care professional.

September 10, 2014 Issue
Improving Self-Management of Chronic Conditions