Evaluation of older people health passport implementation at primary health care centers in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of older people health passport's use by older people and health workers in primary health care centers (PHCCs) in 5 regions of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). METHODS A quasi-experimental pre-post study was conducted to evaluate the health knowledge, attitudes and practices before and after the use of older people health passport. A cross-sectional study on the use of passport was carried out among older people and their healthcare staff (doctors, nurses, and health educators) in selected PHCCs in 5 regions (Al-Ahsa, Jazan, Qassim, Asir, and the Northern Borders) in KSA from August 2019 to February 2020. RESULTS Statistically significant improvement (p<0.001) in mean total score for health knowledge, attitude and practice post-utilization of health passport was found. The relationship between knowledge and practice post-passport use is stronger as compared to before use. More than half of older people (66.5%) reported using the health passport during the past 3 months when a medical service was required, 66.7% used it regularly and 81.2% were motivated to continue using it. Among the healthcare workers, statistically significant difference (p=0.039) was reported between the groups with regard to the use of health passport saving time and effort with more health educators (86.5%) in agreement. CONCLUSION Health passport use improved the health knowledge, attitude, and practice among the older people. Participant's impression regarding its use was positive since majority reported a favorable experience.