Comparing a Digital Health Check With Traditional Nurse-Led Health Examinations Among Long-Term Unemployed...

Area of Science:

• Digital health
• Public health
• Health services research

Background:

• Digital health checks screen population health behavior risks and aid healthcare professionals in patient risk estimation.
• Long-term unemployed individuals face elevated risks for lifestyle-related diseases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the clinical utility of the STAR Duodecim Health Check and Coaching Program (STAR) for screening long-term unemployed individuals.
• To compare health challenges identified by the STAR digital health check against those identified by nurses during face-to-face assessments.

Main Methods:

• A comparison study involving 49 unemployed participants from two Finnish primary healthcare centers.
• Participants completed the STAR digital health check and a nurse's health check.
• Data collected via surveys; nurses identified top 3 health challenges, which were compared to STAR's findings using agreement percentages, sensitivity, specificity, and Cohen's kappa.

Main Results:

• STAR identified an average of 7.4 health challenges per participant, totaling 365.
• STAR identified all nurse-identified challenges in 53% of cases and at least two-thirds in 64% of cases.
• High agreement (Cohen's κ=0.877) for alcohol; moderate agreement for smoking (κ=0.440) and cholesterol (κ=0.457). STAR missed some challenges due to missing participant data on blood pressure, cholesterol, and waist circumference.

Conclusions:

• The STAR digital health check effectively identifies many health challenges but misses some critical ones, particularly those requiring specific measurements.
• Participant data gaps, especially for cardiovascular risk factors like blood pressure and cholesterol, limit STAR's comprehensive assessment.
• Integrating STAR with traditional health checks, including necessary measurements and professional dialogue, can improve risk assessment and streamline care for unemployed individuals.