Posts from — November 2010

Evaluations determine the outcome of a Health Promotion Program. They help you figure out when your goals were met. It’s a good idea to add an examination component to your Health Promotion Program.

Investigations may conclude that some interventions didn’t work well. You could find that a well-liked Health Promotion Program costs too much and didn’t really affect employees’ health.

While these might not be the outcomes you hoped for, without this information you may continue ineffective interventions. Having this information will help you develop better solutions.

When your results are excellent, it’s magnificent! You can spread the word to workforce and senior level management that your health promotion program is achieving its objectives.

Three major areas of an analysis

o  Health Promotion Program structure – the basic framework of the program

o  Health Promotion Program process – Precisely how well the program is run

o  Health Promotion Program outcomes – Whether or not the wellness program met the set objectives

Common questions used to evaluate a Wellness Program

Structure Questions

o  What’s included in the Wellness Program? What’s the intervention?

o  Where does the Health Promotion Program take place?

o  How’s the Wellness Program delivered? What content is included?

o  Who manages the Health Promotion Program?

Process Questions

o  Precisely how many individuals  participate?

o  Do participants complete the Health Promotion Program?

o  Are participants satisfied?

o  Which aspects of the Health Promotion Program are best attended?

Outcome Questions

o  Does the Wellness Program improve knowledge about health issues?

o  Does the Health Promotion Program change behavior?

o  Does the Wellness Program save the company money?

o  What’s the Return On Investment (ROI)?

Download a sample wellness program (http – //www.ibx.com/pdfs/custom/wellness_partners/services/turnkey_programs/walking/participant_eval.pdf) evaluation from IBC’s Walking Towards Health Promotion program.

o  Identify through an staff member survey what incentives they value.

o  Identify what incentives the organization can provide in addition to what the budget will allow.

o  Ensure that every participant who achieves a goal receives some recognition.

o  Prevent offering incentives for the “best” or the “most.”

o  Avoid using food as a reward.

o  Use incentives to promote your health promotion program, through logos and branding.

Incentives encourage employees to adopt positive behaviors or maintain an existing positive behavior that may potentially help the employee stay healthy and live longer. Adopting positive health behavior is fundamentally what wellness is about.

Incentives may be used to increase participation rates, help individuals complete a Wellness Program, or help individuals change or adhere to healthy behaviors.

Providing incentives and rewards will send an important message to the staff members that your business is committed to helping them with bettering their health. It also plays a meaningful role in exciting individuals to participate.

Tips on how to choose appropriate incentives -

o  Identify through an employee survey what incentives they value.

o  Identify what incentives the organization can provide in addition to what the budget will allow.

o  Ensure that every participant who achieves a goal receives some recognition.

o  Prevent offering incentives for the “best” or the “most.”

o  Avoid using food as a reward.

o  Use incentives to promote your Health Promotion Program, through logos and branding.

When developing a comprehensive Health Promotion Program, make certain that it consists of a variety of awareness, lifestyle change, supportive environment programs, policies and activities that target risk behaviors, and the needs and interests of the workforce.

It’ll be important to review and revise existing policies governing such areas as tobacco use sections and the staff cafeteria.

Tips on designing a Wellness Program -

o  Create activities based on your plan objectives addressing the specific needs of your workers. Focus on those topics that are of greatest interest to your workers and the greatest needs of your company, in that order. Avoid topics with narrow appeal.

o  Keep it simple. Design the Health Promotion Program so it’s easy for the participants to understand and track.

o  Integrate a combination of activities to include awareness, educational, and behavior elements.

o  Select activities in which every worker can participate.

Suggestions for your Health Promotion Program -

o  Challenges. Activities that focus on practicing a desired behavior that continues for 4-8 weeks and focuses on specific topics (like physical activity, nutrition, or stress management).

o  Learning experiences. This includes seminars, videos, and classes.

o  Behavior changes (like use of tobacco cessation). You may or may not offer interventions at the worksite. Nonetheless, you should encourage individuals to make lifestyle changes that they want to make even without an external incentive.

o  Education on disease management. for example, support and education groups for diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.

o  Learing new skills. for example, CPR and first aid.

o  Preventive screenings like blood pressure, cholesterol, and vision.

Develop goals and objectives

Objectives are general guidelines that explain what you want to achieve. Objectives define strategies or steps to take to attain the identified goal.

A health promotion program should’ve a “destination”. Use the results of your surveys and your wellness committee’s mission statement as guides. Consider these ideas -

o  Focus on making medical information and learning resources readily available to personnel

o  Focus on group activities so staff members can work together to support and encourage healthier life choices

o  Create a health promotion program that is visible to both workers and to your customers

o  Focus on written policies and guidelines

o  Make sure to set objectives for your health promotion program.

Review Guidelines for Writing Objectives.

Wellness Program Objectives Should be

Specific – A goal is specific when it provides a description of what will be accomplished. It will state exactly what the business intends to accomplish.

It should be written so that it can be easily and obviously communicated. A specific goal will make it easier for those writing objectives and action plans to address the following questions -

o  Who is to be involved?

o  What is to be accomplished?

o  Where’s it to be done?

o  When is it to be done?

Measurable – A goal is measurable when it is quantifiable.  To determine when your goal is measurable, ask questions such as – Just how much? Just how many? Just how will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable – You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that authorizes you to carry out those steps. Objectives that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable.

Realistic – Realistic, means “do-able.” the goal needs to be realistic for your corporation and where the corporation is at the moment.

A goal to take out all the high fat items in the vending machine might not be realistic for your business right now; a better goal would be to substitute some of the chips, candy bars and pies for pretzels, yogurt and dried fruit.

Timely – In conclusion, a goal must’ve a timeframe –  for next week, in three months, by age 35. It must’ve a starting and ending point. It should also have some intermediate points at which progress may be analyzed.

Limiting the time in which a goal must be accomplished helps to focus effort toward its achievement. When you do not set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can begin at any time. Without a time limit, there’s no urgency to begin taking action now.

Successful health promotion programs are designed to meet the needs and interests of the staff. Ask staff what they’re interested in, and what needs they have.

People  are more willing to participate and support wellness efforts if they are involved in the decision-making process. Review the sample employee survey provided below.

Employee Interest Survey â.” can be edited (http – //www.ibx.com/pdfs/custom/workplace_wellness/company_tools/employee_interest_survey.doc)

When developing a recent survey, keep the following hints in mind -

o  Ask primarily closed form questions, particularly if you’ll be sending the survey to a big number of staff members. Closed form questions provide specific options and are easy to tabulate.

o  Invite comments, suggestions and recommendations, or ask open-ended questions after the survey. Open-ended items are more difficult to summarize.

o  Include a brief explanatory cover letter with the survey with the signature of the corporation president. Be sure to include a statement about confidentiality and anonymity.

o  Ask a group of representative workforce to review the survey before it’s distributed. Find out if the questions will be understood by workforce and won’t be objected to.

o  Include demographic information at the beginning, or end of the survey (gender, age, shift, site, department, etc.).

o  Conduct a random drawing for a valued incentive item for all those who returned the survey. This could increase the response rate.

One rule to consider concerning surveys is if you’ve fewer than 500 workforce, everybody should receive one.  The advantage of everybody receiving a recent survey can be significant. If you’ve over 500 workforce, a sample of the work population from each department will suffice.

The higher the response, the more valid and reliable the results. A minimum response of 40% to 50% is considered valuable.

A crucial first step in organizing your organization’s wellness program is the formation of a wellness committee.  The focus of the wellness committee is to plan, promote, and implement the wellness program.

The committee establishes continuity, motivation, and broad ownership of the health promotion program in addition to provides an great automobile for communication.

So who ought to be on the committee? Consider appointing the following people /departments to your committee -

o  upper-level management within your organization

o  Union representatives

o  Human resources  department

o  Staff Member assistance program

o  Information technology

o  Communications

o  Health and safety department

o  Employees interested in wellness

Building a successful wellness program requires staff time as well as money. Some larger companies may spend 20 hours per week for three to six months preparing all the steps prior to launching a wellness program.

Anywhere from 4 to 10 people  meeting monthly equals a wellness committee. A mission statement for the committee must be created by the second meeting. This way, everybody knows what the committee is working toward.

Once a wellness program has been established, the committee’s size and meeting schedule may change. Still, no fewer than 4 members should meet at least quarterly so the group â.” and the wellness program â.” does not fade away.

Support from upper management is essential to building a successful health promotion program! Visible upper management support is one of the most vital factors in the success of a worksite Health Promotion Program.

Executive management executives are responsible for making sure that the corporation meets its goals. They can provide additional assistance by helping you to link your Wellness Program goals to corporation outcomes, thereby positioning Wellness Program as a fundamental part of the corporation.

It’s important to develop support and excitement for the wellness program from all levels of the company including upper-level management, mid-level management, and grass-root employees.

The challenge for any Wellness Program coordinator is convincing upper-level management about the potential value of Wellness Program to the company and conceptualizing how health promotion programs can impact the company in a meaningful manner.

The American Journal of Wellness is a excellent resource to assist you with obtaining convincing information on the benefits of a Wellness Program.

Health Promotion Program support from senior level management can come in many different ways -

o  Involvement in the planning process

o  Distribution of funding for the health promotion program

o  Support for time given to the health promotion program

o  Participation in wellness events

o  Leadership by management, like the distribution of a letter of support for the health promotion program.

o  Download a sample letter requesting upper-level management support. (http – //www.ibx.com/pdfs/custom/worksite_wellness/business_tools/sr_mgt_support.doc)

o  Flexibility of employee schedules to accommodate wellness activities

The first step in developing your wellness/Health Promotion Program is to understand your corporation and how Health Promotion Program will fit into the current structure.

By researching your corporation’s history with similar health promotion programs and eliciting feedback from coworkers, you are able to find the best solution for your company.

Health Promotion Program –  Research Questions

o  Find out when Health Promotion Program has been done in the past. When so, what worked and what did not?

o  Was it commonly accepted?

o  Was wellness programming successful? Why or why not?

o  What does your business hope to gain from implementing a Health Promotion Program?

Answers to these questions will help you begin the process of building a culture of wellness within your company. It is crucial that you assess the environment before beginning a health promotion program.

The costs of healthcare have been rising more than 10% annually for a few years. A substantial amount of the money spent in the healthcare system treats expensive diseases and diseases.

o  Approximately 95% of the $1.4 trillion that we spend as a nation on health goes to direct medical services, while about 5% is allocated to preventing illness and promoting health.

o  Potentially, 50 percent to 70 percent of all diseases are preventable as they are associated with modifiable health risks.

o  In an effort to optimize employee health, reduce avoidable healthcare utilization and enhance work performance, and in turn lower healthcare costs and improve employee satisfaction and retention, many corporations are developing, or are interested in developing, Wellness Programs for personnel.

The benefits of corporate health promotion are well documented. Greater than 120 research repeatedly show themes like improvements in health outcomes coupled with high Return On Investment. Some major findings include the following -

o  Savings of $3.48 in reduced health care costs per dollar invested.

o  Savings of $5.82 in lower absenteeism costs per dollar invested.

o  Return On Investment (ROI)s of at least $3 to $8 per dollar invested within five years of health promotion program implementation.

o  Lifestyle behavior modification programs –  $3 to $6 Return On Investment within 2 to 5 years.

o  Self care, decision support health promotion programs –  $2 to $3 Return On Investment (ROI) within a year.

o  Disease management programs –  $7 to $10 ROI within a year.

By offering health promotion programs, businesss are not only providing an additional service for employees, but they are also gaining financially. Further, the impact of a health promotion program goes beyond reduced healthcare cost and Return On Investment.

A health promotion program can affect productivity, absenteeism, morale, recruitment success, turnover, and medical care costs.

* Source –  Rees, C., and Finch, R. (2004). Health Improvement –  A comprehensive guide to designing, beginning and evaluating wellness programs. National Business Group on Health, 1 (1), 1-7.

As reported by the American Journal of Wellness, “Wellness is the science and art of helping people  change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health.

Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle change may be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, change behavior, and develop environments that support good health practices.

Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest impact in producing lasting change.”

Wellness Program –  Action Steps

The process of building a Wellness Program involves -

o  Identifying the current health status of your workforce

o  Decidingthe appropriate wellness programs and interventions to offer

o  Advertising and beginning the health promotion programs

o  Building in motivational incentives

o  Assessing the impact

o  Revising health promotion programs based on investigation outcomes

It could even include developing policies and procedures that support staff member participation in wellness activities at your workplace (such as flextime).

Steps to Beginning a Health Promotion Program

o  Conduct an organizational assessment

o  Obtain upper-level management support

o  Establish a wellness committee

o  Obtain worker input

o  Develop objectives and objectives

o  Create and implement wellness program activities

o  Choose incentives

o  Evaluate outcomes

One of the ways the government plans to enhance the nation’s health is through comprehensive Wellness Programs.

As reported by the USA Department of Health and Human Services, these wellness programs may help workforce live healthier lifestyles by building supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior modification programs.

Indeed, one of the objectives of Healthful Individuals  2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to raise the proportion of staff that participate in a extensive Health Promotion Program at their workplace to 75%.