Partic i pa nt Characteristics
During the 6month studyperiod, the research nruses scrieened
a totzl of 710 medical records of patients in the @PD and
identified 607 potentially eligible older adults for further
screening. Among ttris group, 335 of them met the selection
criteria. A total of 3O6 older adults participated, with the response
rate of 9l.l%. Thirty patients refused to participate because
they were not interested in joining or had no time. The
M SD
279
58
29
237
Nursing Research . July/August 2014 . Volume 63 . No. 4
sample mean age was 7 4.6 (SD = (. J), with mo re men (4O 3%A
thanwomen (39.7y,). About half the sample had receivedprimary
level education or below, and around 13% reported financial
strain. Among the medical risk factors for serious
influenza-related complications, diabetes was ttre most preiralent
(63.1YA, followed by chronic heart disease (28.4%A and
cerebrovascular disease (Ll.4yo). .lrbout 27.8%o of the older
adults had at least three chronic illnesses, and a majority perceived
themselves as unhealthy. Table 1 summarizes the clinical
and demographic characteristics.