Health Risk Appraisals With Aging Adults: An Integrative Review.

Identification of risk factors unique to the aging experience is vital to support health promotion efforts and prevent loss of independence for the increasing aging population. Health risk appraisals are tools capable of identifying a broad range of factors that affect health; however, these tools were designed for use with predominantly healthy working-age adults. The purpose of this integrative review was to describe uses and adaptations of health risk appraisals with aging adults. A total of 43 articles met inclusion criteria, identifying multiple adaptations necessary to effectively identify the risks faced by aging adults, including those related to activities of daily living, pain, depression, social support/network, vision, hearing, and cognitive status. Uses included support for health promotion efforts and to determine risk for depression, falls, and loss of independence. Further research needs to be done to evaluate impact when used as a health promotion and prevention tool for aging adults.