• Michelle C Yang, Cam Clayton, Devin Harris, Chelsea Pelletier, Julia Schmidt, Jill G Zwicker, and Brodie M Sakakibara.
• Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• Fam Pract. 2023 Feb 9; 40 (1): 303830-38.

BackgroundCOVID-19 public health restrictions (i.e. physical distancing) compromise individuals' ability to self-manage their health behaviours and may increase the risks of adverse health events.ObjectivesTo evaluate the student-delivered Community Outreach teleheAlth program for Covid education and Health promotion (COACH) on health-directed behaviour (self-management) among older adults (≥65 years of age, n = 75). Secondary objectives estimated the influence of COACH on perceived depression, anxiety, and stress; social support; health-related quality of life; health promotion self-efficacy; and other self-management domains.MethodsCOACH was developed to provide chronic disease management and prevention support among older adults via telephone or videoconferencing platforms (i.e. Zoom). In this single-group, pre-post study, our primary outcome was measured using the health-directed behaviour subscale of the Health Education Impact Questionnaire. Secondary measures included the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, Medical Outcomes Study: Social Support Survey, MOS Short Form-36, and Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices Scale. Paired sample t-tests were used to analyse outcome changes.ResultsMean age of participants was 72.4 years (58.7% female; 80% ≥2 chronic conditions). Health-directed behaviour significantly improved after COACH (P < 0.001, d = 0.45). Improved health promotion self-efficacy (P < 0.001, d = 0.44) and decreased mental health were also observed (P < 0.001, d = -1.69).DiscussionCOACH likely contributed to improved health-directed behaviour and health promotion self-efficacy despite the diminished mental health-related quality of life during COVID-19. Our findings also highlight the benefits of using health professional students for the delivery of virtual health promotion programs.Clinical Trial InformationClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04492527.© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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