title: Patient activation in older people with long-term conditions and multimorbidity: correlates and change in a cohort study in the United Kingdom.
abstract: Patient Activation is defined as the knowledge, skill, and confidence a patient has in managing their health. Higher levels of patient activation are associated with better self-management, better health outcomes, and lower healthcare costs. Understanding the drivers of patient activation can allow better tailoring of patient support and interventions. There are few data on patient activation in UK patients with long-term conditions.
  
  
  
  A prospective cohort design was used. Questionnaires were mailed to 12,989 patients over the age of 65 years with at least one long-term condition in Salford, UK. They completed the Patient Activation Measure and self-report measures of: depression, health literacy, social support, health-related quality of life, and impact of multimorbidity. We report descriptive data on baseline activation and change over time, and use multivariate regression to model associations with patient activation at baseline and predictors of change in Activation over 6 months.
  
  
  
  The cohort included 4377 (33.6 %) older people, of whom 4225 were mailed a further questionnaire at 6 months; 3390 returned it complete (80.2 %). At baseline, 15 % self-reported PAM level 1, 16 % level 2, 45 % level 3, and 25 % level 4. Across all patients, depression had the strongest association with patient activation. Other important factors were: older age, being retired, poor health literacy, health-related quality of life, and social support. Total number of self-reported comorbidities and the perceived impact of comorbidities were also important for patients with more than one long-term condition. Patient activation scores were reasonably enduring over time (r = 0.43 between baseline and at six months), although nearly half changed 'levels' of activation over that time. Few variables predicted change in activation over 6 months.
  
  
  
  This is the first large scale assessment of patient activation in the UK. Our data may be useful in identifying patients who need support with patient activation, and allow interventions (such as health coaching) to be tailored to better support older patients with long-term conditions who have symptoms of depression, poor social support and impaired health literacy. Further analyses of longitudinal studies will be necessary to better understand the causal relationships between patient activation and variables such as depression.
authors.affiliation: NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. amy.blakemore@manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0972-100X
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blakemore
authors.affiliation: NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hann
authors.affiliation: NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Howells
authors.affiliation: NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Panagioti
authors.affiliation: Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford Royal Foundation Trust, Stott Lane, Salford, M6 8HD, UK.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sidaway
authors.affiliation: NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.affiliation: NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.|NIHR Greater Manchester Primary Care Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bower
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods; D057566:Self Report; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Depression; Health-related quality of life; Long-term conditions; Multimorbidity; Patient activation; Self-management