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What is a “Protective Health Assessment” (PHA)?
A Protective Health Assessment is a tool used for assessing your individual health risks. This Assessment also provides you with a personalized report based on your responses to the PHA questions.
This Assessment takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. It’s a good opportunity to learn about how your health habits and behaviors may be affecting your health, and what you can do to improve your own personal risk profile.
Who can take this PHA?
This PHA is designed for adults, 18 years of age and older. It is important to note that guidelines for children and adolescents differ from those aimed at adults. Body mass index, for example, is calculated differently for adults, and therefore, as presented here, would not be appropriate for use with children or adolescents.
What does it cost to take this PHA?
Just your time! This is a free, public service provided by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, developed under a grant awarded by the National Governors Association. It is available to any adult who is interested in improving or maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
What is the goal or purpose of this PHA?
The goal of this PHA is to contribute to improving the health and quality of life of Connecticut residents, through encouraging the prevention and early detection of chronic diseases & related risk factors.
The information in this PHA, however, is not a substitute for consulting your health care provider, nor is it intended to provide medical advice or treatment; only your doctor or health care provider can do that. Our sole purpose is to promote health and wellness, increase awareness, and provide you with relevant information on chronic diseases & related risk factors to better prepare you to work with your health care provider to improve your risk profile, and achieve the best health status you can. You should always consult your health care provider before making any significant lifestyle changes.
We have been guided by the Ethics Guidelines for Development and Use of Health Assessments, Society of Prospective Medicine, in the development of this instrument.
What do I get for completing the PHA?
Once you complete the PHA you will be able to print out two reports: a summary report which provides an overview of your responses, and indicates where you should focus your efforts to best improve your health status; and, a second, more detailed report, which provides personalized feedback on each of the PHA modules you have completed.
In addition, all informational and resource pages contained in this PHA are printer-friendly, enabling you to print out those that are of interest, including a one-page summary of the current national recommendations covered in this PHA.
Please note that because the results are anonymous and confidential, these reports cannot be accessed once you have logged off the DPH/PHA website. If you do not complete the PHA in one session, you will have to re-enter your data prior to generating your reports.
Once completed, you may wish to print out an additional copy of your reports to share with your health care provider. You may also wish to retake the PHA once each calendar year—perhaps around your birth date—to help monitor your progress.
Who will know my personal responses to the questions on this PHA?
No one. This tool is made available by the Connecticut Department of Public Health as a public service. No information will be asked of you that would allow anyone to identify you, and all individual information is kept anonymous and confidential.
Your responses will be combined with those of everyone else who responds to this PHA. This summary or "group" data will be available to DPH staff for purposes of identifying public health priorities, and for planning and evaluating public health services aimed at meeting those priorities.
How are the PHA questions selected?
The questions presented in this PHA are generally drawn and/or adapted from 3 primary sources:
1. national surveys (e.g. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey; National Health Interview Survey);
2. national recommendations (e.g. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force; American College of Sports Medicine; American Heart Association; National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute; USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005); and,
3. national health objectives (Healthy People 2010).
These sources provide us with a basis for comparing our results with those from other states and across the nation.
What informational sources were used?
This PHA is based on the numerous sources cited in the References section of this instrument, as well as the collective knowledge and experience of the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) and its partners. The content of this website will be periodically reviewed, and may be updated or otherwise modified as a result of these reviews.
Links to online resources used in developing and reviewing this PHA are provided solely for your convenience. Inclusion of these links, however, does not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by the CT Department of Public Health (DPH), nor is CT DPH responsible for the content of the web pages found at these sites. Please note, too, that while all external links were valid, working links at the time they were posted, websites are commonly updated or otherwise modified by their owners, which may lead to broken links on our pages. If you discover a broken link, you may be able to access the content by entering the “parent” web address in your browser’s address bar, and then entering the title in that site’s search feature.
Please Note: An Important Disclaimer
The information provided on this website is believed to be accurate and reliable at the time of posting. However, CT DPH assumes no responsibility for any errors in the information presented here, nor does it assume responsibility for the use of any of the information provided. Users are responsible for checking the accuracy, completeness and/or suitability of all information used.
Furthermore, CT DPH makes no representations, guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability of the information provided. CT DPH specifically disclaims any and all liability for any claims or damages that may result from providing the website, or the information it contains, including any websites maintained by third parties and linked to this site. CT DPH assumes no responsibility for independently verifying, nor does it exercise editorial control over, any information contained on pages outside the DPH website.
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