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Volunteers needed for health study

Posted on January 20, 2009, 10:10am

SA Health is looking for 300 volunteers to join an online study to help tackle chronic disease.

Health Minister John Hill said the six-week program was designed to help people manage their conditions in a convenient and private setting.

“People can take part by simply logging on to the website at the best time for them and then answering a series of questions about their health.

“The program has the potential to get people more involved with their own health care, something which will really help tackle chronic disease in our community.

This approach has been successful in the US and the UK and we want to know if it will work here,” Mr Hill said.

Principal project officer David Kelly said the program takes six weeks to complete, with just two hours online a week.

“The program is based on Stanford University’s ‘Healthier Living with Ongoing Health Problems’ program and is especially suited to people who find it difficult to access health care services, because they live in country areas, or are house bound, work shifts or simply prefer not to participate in face-to-face training,” Mr Kelly said.

Some of the topics covered in the online program include:

* Techniques to deal with problems such as frustration, fatigue, pain and isolation;
* Exercise to maintain and improve strength, flexibility, and endurance;
* Use of medications;
* Communicating effectively with family, friends, and health professionals;
* Healthy eating;
* Making informed treatment decisions.

SA Health will use the Stanford evaluation to see if the program should be taken up permanently as a way of delivering self-management education.

People may be eligible to participate if they:

* Live in South Australia and are 18 years of age or older;
* Have been diagnosed with at least one long term chronic condition;
* Are able to take part for a total of two hours, two to three times a week for six weeks;
* Have internet access.

There are 12 individual groups planned with the first group due to commence in mid January and the final group scheduled to start in June.

SA Health requires 300 people to take part. Anyone interested can register at https://sahealth.stanford.edu.

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