Evaluation of a community-based health information service

The Heart Information Service is a community-based telephone information and referral service designed to provide accurate and current information about cardiovascular disease to the lay and professional publics. In its first two years of existence, trained volunteers responded to more than 11,500 inquiries. The use of the service was evaluated by retrospective analysis of 4,351 calls made over a 12-month period and by a prospective evaluation using mailed survey questionnaires and simulation calls. The data indicate that 78 percent of the callers took at least one positive action as a result of information received. The results suggest that paraprofessional volunteers can effectively provide telephone information about heart disease, its prevention and treatment, as well as offer limited psychosocial support to cardiac patients and their families.