General Instructions

The Health Age test is one of the most popular screening tests at a Health Expo, on a health fair or many other events where that software can be used. It is based on a questionnaire which asks six lifestyle questions, and the program will calculate how much impact the personal choices will have on life expectancy.

Depending on the number of people expected, you should have sufficient computers and staff available. You should calculate 1-2 minutes for each test, and with a medium sized Expo of about 300 people coming within an hour, you will normally be fine with 2 computers and 4-6 helpers in addition to the computer operators.

When people come to your booth, hand them the Health Age Questionnaire Form. You should provide some small tables for people to sit down and fill in the forms. Some people need help for finding the appropriate answers, and you will need to provide some staff members for that. When the form is fully filled out send the person with his test to the computer operator, who types in the answers into the computer. It is a good idea to make a quick check whether the form is filled out complete, because incomplete forms slow down the data input process. Especially if height and weight figures are missing, you need to type the form a second time after people get their measurement results.

After typing in the numbers the operator prints out the results on the preprinted Results Form. To be more efficient, especially on larger Expos, you should have another person taking the result from the printer and giving a short explanation on the meaning of the numbers. We have found that if the significance of the numbers are not properly explained, many people get some misconceived ideas about them. Giving a short explanation gives you also an opportunity to stress the great influence our lifestyle has on longevity as well as quality of life. After completion of the test it is a good idea to provide an opportunity for some more health counseling. On a Health Expo we normally do counseling at the Trust booth, and you should send the visitors there right after completing the test. In other settings, consider some provisions for counseling after explaining the results.

In some areas you might want to run the test in two different languages. In some US regions that might be English and Spanish, other regions are bilingual and are requiring another combination of languages. The software allows to print the results in any two languages that you choose in the setup. You will need to print the results on the right translation of the form. If the distribution between the languages is fairly even, it may be the best to assign each computer to one language. If you run both languages on one computer, you need to keep changing the Result form in the printer for the appropriate language. If available, you can connect two printers and set up one for each language. This will save you the work of switching between the forms.

Although we have outlined here the instructions on how to utilize the Health Age test for a Health Expo or health fair, there are many other situations where this software can be used. If you want to use it in a seminar, just distribute the forms on the beginning of your evening, have the participants fill them out and collect them again. You can have then a computer operator type in the numbers and return the results at the end of the lecture. For finding the Results page easily, have them spread out on a table in alphabetical order. You may even consider returning them the next night, so that you can do some explanation of the results in your lecture.

Important Note for Follow Up
Be sure to keep the Health Age Questionnaire form after processing them on the computer. They will receive the Results page, but you will want to keep the Questionnaire page on file since it contains their contact information and what seminars they would be interested in attending in the future. You can also use this data to find out in which topics people are showing an interest and plan your seminars accordingly.