Online education to inform the elderly about age-related alcohol risks

描述(由申请者提供)：美国老年人中与酒精有关的问题日益成为公共卫生问题。大约一半的老年人饮酒，许多人的饮酒量超过了推荐的限度。在老年人中，身体新陈代谢酒精能力的变化意味着，即使相对较低的饮酒量也可能与老年人健康状况下降、药物使用增加和功能状态受损产生不利影响。然而，目前还没有基于证据的在线酒精教育计划，旨在满足老年人的特定需求，尽管人口正在老龄化，越来越多的人在老年时饮酒。为了弥补这一不足，我们建议开发Wise Drining as We Age，这是一个在线教育项目，将整合有关酒精和衰老的最佳现有知识，以及健康行为和成人学习的模式。这一目标与NIAAA为SBIR指定的感兴趣的领域一致，该协会呼吁“开发和评估旨在让老年人了解与年龄有关的具体酒精问题风险的教育材料”。我们的研究有四个里程碑。首先是制作书面课程，其中包括教学目标、实现目标所需的教育内容、图表、互动练习和反馈，以及与其他在线资源的链接。原型教育将由教育工作者、酒精研究人员、老年医生和患者教育专家起草和审查。内容将集中在酒精对健康和生活质量的影响，考虑到医疗问题、用药、功能状态、酒后驾车和酗酒等因素。教学将遵循成熟的成人学习模式、健康信念模式和AHRQ公共网站的健康素养指南。第二个研究里程碑是制作一个功能正常的网站，将在寻求治疗的老年人中进行试点测试，这是第三个里程碑。最终产品将包括关于教育的可行性和有效性的量化数据。50名目前年龄较大的饮酒者将被随机分配到Wise Drining as We Age，而50名将被分配到NIH High Health的在线酒精项目。参与者将在基线和1个月后接受测量，以比较他们的饮酒情况、知识和自我效能。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Alcohol-related problems in older Americans are a growing public health concern. About half of all older adults drink alcohol, and many drink above recommended limits. In the elderly, changes in the body's ability to metabolize alcohol mean that even relatively low levels of consumption can interact adversely with older adults' declining health, increased medication-use and impaired functional status. However, there is no available evidence-based online alcohol education programs designed to meet the specific needs of older adults even though the population is aging, and more people are drinking into older age. To make up for this deficit, we propose to develop Wise Drinking as We Age, an online education program that will incorporate the best available knowledge about alcohol and aging and models of health behavior and adult learning. This goal is consistent with NIAAA's specified area of interest for SBIR's calling for the "development and evaluation of educational materials designed to inform the elderly about specific age-related risks for alcohol problems." Our study has four milestones. The first is the production of a written curriculum that includes instructiona objectives, the educational content needed to meet the objectives, graphics, interactive practice exercises and feedback, and links to other online resources. The prototype education will be drafted and reviewed by educators, alcohol researchers, and geriatricians and experts in patient education. Content will focus on alcohol's impact on health and quality of life, accounting for factors such as medical problems, medication-use, functional status, drinking and driving, and binge drinking. Instruction will be guided by well- established models of adult learning, the Health Belief Model, and AHRQ's health literacy guidelines for public websites. The second study milestone is the production of a functioning website, which will be pilot tested among older non-treatment seeking adults, the third milestone. The final product will consist of quantitative data on the feasibility and effectiveness of the education. 50 older current drinkers will be randomly assigned to Wise Drinking as We Age, while 50 will be assigned to the NIH Senior Health's online alcohol program. Participants will be measured at baseline and 1 month later to compare their alcohol use, knowledge, and self-efficacy.