Abstract
Automated telephone messaging is used to remind patients about appointments, monitor health status, and to provide other health services. Previous research has documented that these systems improve health services delivery to patients, but little attention has been paid to the messages. Well designed messages increase the potential of these systems to provide environmental support for older adults' performance of daily health activities such as appointment attendance. Our research builds on theories that point to the importance of tailoring health information to patients' needs and abilities, and theories that predict improved comprehension when messages are compatible with listeners' knowledge. Our goal is to design the content, organization, and presentation of automated health appointment messages so that they provide environmental support for older adults. We review several studies that have implications for both improving automated health communication and refining the construct of environmental support.
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