Background
Self-management programs are available to consumers in a variety of forms including facilitator-led groups, telephone coaching and web-based services. These programs are intended to have a wide range of impacts and include general educational information about health and disease, motivation to change risk factors, compliance with medical regimens, coping, general 'empowerment' and techniques for self-management. Evaluation of self-management and health education programs has been hampered by a lack of standardised and comprehensive assessment.
The development of the Health Education and Impact Questionnaire (heiQ) arose out of demands from funders, the community sector and researchers for a valid and relevant evaluation and data management system for health education and self-management programs. Its development was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing.
The heiQ evaluation system
The heiQ is an Australian-developed health education impact evaluation system. It consists of 51 questions, organised into a set of eight scales . Each scale is an independent questionnaire and together the 8 scales provide a comprehensive profile of the intended outcomes of health education / self-management programs. Health directed behaviour positive and active engagement in life Emotional well-being Self-monitoring and insight Constructive attitudes and approaches
Skill and technique acquisition Social integration and support Health service navigation The heiQ is designed to measure effectiveness of health education programs and to inform health professionals and researchers on the outcomes of health education programs delivered to people with chronic diseases. The heiQ system provides course leaders and their affiliated institutions with valuable information about consumer satisfaction, service delivery quality, and effects of quality improvement activities.
The heiQ Instruments
There are 3 sections of the heiQ that can be used independently of each other or in combination. These sections are:
The heiQ Core Dimensions:
- Health directed behaviour
- Positive and active engagement in life
- Emotional well-being
- Self-monitoring and insight
- Constructive attitudes and approaches
- Skill and technique acquisition
- Social integration and support
- Health service navigation
The above 8 scales can be ‘mixed and matched’ depending on what you need to measure, the intended outcomes of your program, and how brief your assessment needs to be. However, please note that only the full version of the heiQ has been validated.
heiQ Perspective (response shift):
Nine additional heiQ items were developed to measure potential benefits of self-management
courses while also determining if participants in chronic disease self-management courses have a change of perspective of their health status (a response shift), and if this is measurable with a paper-based questionnaire. These items were based on the core constructs of the heiQ developed previously. Sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of these items were calculated using cognitive interviews as a relative gold standard. Response shift can be negative (i.e., after the course, participants realize that, before the course, they were worse than they thought they
were), positive (i.e., participants now realize they were better than they thought they were), or absent (no change). These items are distributed alongside the heiQ core component and are administered retrospectively.
The revised version of the heiQ questionnaire currently available for use is
the heiQ Version 3.0.
This version consists of:
40 core questions + 9 course quality questions and demographics own data analysis required
Please note: the heiQ system is subject to copyright and reproduction and alterations
are not permitted without written permission from the authors.
Please contact Richard.Osborne@deakin.edu.au for further information or complete the attached PDF (140k)and email to Richard.Osborne@deakin.edu.au.
