With rapidly rising health care expenditures, health care cost containment has become a major issue facing this nation. A phenomenal growth in worksite health promotion has occurred with the recognition that these programs have the potential to reduce these costs. However, to be effective as a cost containment strategy, health promotion programs must successfully attract participants, particularly those whose health is most at-risk. Due to limited research on issues of participation, there is a need to investigate the characteristics of individuals attracted to worksite health promotion programs and the factors that influence their participation. The purpose of this study was to explore the characterization of participants and nonparticipants and to examine the factors that influence participation in health promotion programs. A self-selected participant group (n=173) was compared to a nonparticipant group (n =146) with respect to sociodemographic characteristics, health care costs, health status, and health risk behaviors. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the employer's records and from a questionnaire designed to address specific components of the program. Results indicated that management/administrative staff were more likely to participate in the health promotion program than were classified or faculty staff. For the period of the survey, participants were also more likely to be nonsmokers and were less likely to be injured on-the-job during one of the survey years. The workers' compensation claims costs for nonparticipants were significantly higher in one survey year and over the two-year average period considered. However, the nonparticipant claims were strongly influenced by one costly claim in 1988. The two groups did not differ when the absenteeism data from the employer's records were analyzed. In addition, it was found that subjects with the highest levels of participation also had the fewest number of children living in the household. Time constraints as a result of job schedule, work/activity load, and meeting times of the activities were the most important factors limiting participation in the program. Further research is needed to assess program effectiveness and program impact upon employee health and health care costs. The analysis should be conducted over a longer period of time and comparisons should be made within as well as between groups. / Graduation date: 1992

This study has presented findings on the correlations of the attitudes of the health promotion program provider and the program decision-maker in measuring the success of their worksite health promotion programs. The purpose of this study was to answer the following three questions: 1) Do company decision-makers and primary program providers agree upon which evaluation methods are currently being used in their worksite health promotion program? 2) Do the company decision-makers and primary program providers rank the top five evaluation criteria in the same order of importance? and 3) In rank order, what are the top five preferred evaluation criteria of the program provider? Results indicate a strong correlation of agreement for questions 1 and 2 (0.937 and 0.951 respectively). The data suggests that primary health promotion program providers and company decision-makers share strong agreement on which evaluation criteria should measure program success. Justification of worksite health promotion requires that the program provider be accountable for the criteria on which the decision-maker bases the programs' success. / Fisher Institute for Wellness

This study conducted an experiment with 139 staff volunteers from a suburban school district (K-12) who participated in an eight-week program of exercise, nutritional practices, and stress control measures. All participants were pretested and posttested for mental well-being and physical fitness. Two treatment groups set goals, wrote contracts, and met weekly to hear speakers and share experiences, and made weekly reports to a director of the project. One treatment group was provided with leaders who organized supporting activities; the other treatment group was divided into support groups without leaders. A third group was composed of individuals who did not participate in the formal program but were present in the schools where general wellness activities may have affected their health-related activities. The program produced significant changes in mental and physical health, whereas the informal influences on the third group produced no significant change in physical fitness but did, to a lesser degree, produce a significant change in the mental health of its members. Significant relationships were found between the level of health-related behavior sustained in the program and changes in mental and physical health; physical health levels and improvement were not found to be related to mental health levels or improvement. The levels of support produced significant results only when comparing treatment groups with the third group (that did not participate in the formal program); leader-led groups did not produce significantly different results from the leaderless groups. The description of the wellness program and the results of its use provide a model for school administrators who wish to improve the health and productivity of their staff. It also represents a method of introducing wellness into the school curriculum. Staff members become models for wellness and enthusiasts for the benefits of such programs.

This study was to determine if the importance assigned by health educators (judges) to components of corporate health promotion programs is the same as or different from program components most frequently offered by corporations for employees. This involved establishing a list of program components that judges felt were important for wellness programs and comparing this list with programs actually existing in polled corporations. A literature review was used to establish an initial list of program components. Thirty-eight judges returned questionnaires incorporating the list. A Spearman's rho and scattergram were used to test for correlations between judges' opinions and corporate practices. The report concludes that no correlation exists but that there is agreement among the judges polled that corporations should promote employee wellness programs.

The study was designed to identify current levels of corporate health promotion and nutrition activities and to highlight the need for continued health promotion activities, in particular nutrition education, throughout corporate America.Five hundred surveys were mailed to the Fortune 500 companies throughout the United States. One hundred and twenty-one were completed, yielding a 24% sample for analysis.The wellness/health promotion activities reported to be a part of corporate wellness programs included exercise, nutrition education, CPR training, stress management and intramural sports. It appeared that size of the corporation influenced the nutrition promotion provided at the worksite. There appeared to be no difference between CEO support or lack of support to the wellness/health promotion program and the variety of health promotion activities. It was apparent that having a nutrition consultant resulted in greater and more varied nutrition health promotion activities at the worksite, and that in the future, America's Fortune 500 companies will need to hire a nutrition professional to disseminate nutrition and health promotion information at the worksite. / Institute for Wellness

Nine physiological measures were evaluated pre- to post-intervention on subjects participating in a university health promotion program over a seven-month period. Frequency of program attendance and choice of activity were also assessed. Of the 88 employees initially screened, most of the subjects were staff members (n=82, 93%),with a majority being female (n=68, 77%). Significant differences in physiological measures were found pre- to post-intervention between "higher" and "lower" cardiovascular risk participants, primarily due to the type of activity chosen. .The results indicate that health promotion programs at a university are an effective way to have an impact on employees in reducing their cardiovascular risk factors.