C04 – Patient Perspectives on the Acceptability of a Whole Health Values Assessment Tool

Summary

Rates of chronic conditions among adults are high in the United States, and patient engagement and effective self-management are key to chronic condition prevention and treatment. Against this backdrop, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) is implementing a Whole Health System of care intended to engage and empower Veterans to pursue goals aligned with their values. The Personal Health Inventory (PHI) is a brief values assessment tool intended to inform patient care that prompts patient ratings on various domains of health (e.g., Recharge, Moving the Body), reflection on what matters most, and possible steps to pursue improved self-care or goals aligned with what matters most. Two key barriers to PHI use include limited provider time and the potential need for orienting patients to personal, reflective questions. The purpose of this study was to gather patient perspectives on independently completing the PHI based on an acceptability framework. We conducted a pilot mixed methods study of 25 post-9/11 Veterans (16% female, 52% identified as a racial and/or ethnic minority) new to VA healthcare who completed semi-structured phone interviews. Data collection is complete. Results will include quantitative ratings of Sekhon and colleagues’ acceptability framework and qualitative themes related to experiences completing the PHI. Preliminary results suggest positive results given high means (0-10 scale, higher is better) on most domains of acceptability, for example affective attitude = 8.1 (2.0), self-efficacy for completing PHI independently = 9.8 (0.8), and effectiveness for thinking about what matters most = 8.2 (2.3). Qualitatively, Veterans typically reported that the PHI was easy to complete and prompted reflection of various domains of health. The findings will help to understand and address potential barriers to patient-centered care aligned with what matters most to each patient, informing implementation and clinical use of the PHI by the primary care team.