This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Burch, S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Burch, S. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Evaluating Health Interventions for Older People

Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon, UK and Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, UKsburch{at}anglia.ac

In recent years there has been a growing emphasis on evidencebased medicine and measuring outcomes of health care. The evaluation of health interventions for older people has increasingly relied upon the use of standardized assessment instruments, which are seen as providing detailed, holistic and patient-centred information. This article argues that such an approach has several drawbacks which may have serious implications for the evaluation and provision of health care. Standardized assessment instruments ignore the social dimensions of interviewing, decontextualize scores and contain an implicitly individualistic biomedical ideology of health. These factors undermine the effective evaluation of interventions. This is particularly significant when health care is purchased on the basis of delivering demonstrable gains. Provision for older people may be under threat if methods of evaluating its efficacy are inadequate.

Key Words: assessment • evidence-based medicine • ideology • older people

Health:, Vol. 3, No. 2, 151-166 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/136345939900300202


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?