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EnhanceWellness

In the news:

Quality Improvement Snapshot: EnhanceWellness — For more information about Maine's DHHS quality improvement program, please visit their web site: http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/QI/home.html

About EnhanceWellness:

Whether someone wants to lose weight, faces health challenges, is grieving, or is coping with depression, EnhanceWellness, a motivational intervention with proven results, can help. A team of two professionals, typically a nurse and social worker, work with the individual. Research has shown that participants in EnhanceWellness can decrease the length of hospital stays, lower their use of psychoactive drugs, alleviate symptoms of mood disorders, and develop a sense of greater self-efficacy.

EnhanceWellness happens in three steps: screen, plan, action:

• An EnhanceWellness screen identifies personal strengths and risks. Together, an EnhanceWellness team member and the participant review a detailed health questionnaire.
   
• An EnhanceWellness plan, developed with the help of the EnhanceWellness staff, focuses on areas the participant chooses to work on. This plan can also be shared with the participant’s physician.
   
• The participant then moves into action with the support of a health professional and/or volunteer health mentor, who offer ongoing encouragement, feedback, and monitoring. The team helps with problem solving, health education, and referral to support groups and additional services, including individual and family counseling, if indicated.

EnhanceWellness is a reliable complement to formal healthcare services for older adults. It is backed by independent research and has been shown to yield measurable results in health — an important consideration for service providers, public and private fund providers, health care partners, and older adults themselves. And of course, it works seamlessly with EnhanceFitness.

(revised February 2010)