Cardiovascular risk factors and visiting nurse intervention--evaluation of a Croatian survey and intervention model: the CroHort study.

The aim of this study is to identify factors that influence the success of the implementation of the primary and secondary prevention programs in Croatia by the visiting/community services. Two main sources of information were used: reports about regular visiting nurse services in Croatia and research about visiting nurse participation in the Croatian Adult Health Cohort Study (CroHort) 2008. Out of the total number 9,070 respondents who participated in CAHS 2003 survey, during CroHort 2008 program 3,229 (35.6%) participants were re-interviewed. The qualitative analysis was done with a sample of 34 visiting nurses, which participated in the CroHort 2008. Results show that there are three key problems which limit preventive programs: inability of the health care system to recognize the importance of the primary prevention; visiting nurses' lack capacity to implement prevention and populations' lack of motivation and education.