Recorded presentation

Sara J. Corwin, MPH, PhD, Office of Public Health Practice, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-3636, corwins@gwm.sc.edu, Robin F. Foust, PAHM, Zoe Consulting, Inc, P.O. Box 258, Catawba, SC 29704, and Catherine Reese, Human Resources Department, City of Charlotte, 600 E. 4th Street, Charlotte, NC 28202.

Two of Healthy People’s (HP2010) objectives are to increase the percent of US worksites that offer a comprehensive employee health promotion program and to increase employee participation in these programs.A large metropolitan employer in a major southeastern city is currently developing a comprehensive model of worksite health promotion. A multiple phase approach was adopted to assist in short and long term planning. The purpose of this presentation is to share the procedures and results of nominal groups conducted during Phase 1 to identify: types of programs and services employees desired, factors to motivate participation, and effective communication mechanisms. Trained facilitators conducted 26 nominal groups with 163 employees at their job sites. Fifty-two percent of the participants were female, 56% were Caucasian American, 41% African American, 73% were married, 32% earned bachelors degrees, and 25% earned advanced degrees, and mean age was 41 years. Results indicate that nutrition education, health screenings, and discount memberships at local fitness clubs were the top three priority program areas. The top three factors speculated to increase involvement and sustain participation were increased convenience and access to programs, flexible work schedules to support on-site program participation and offering free or low cost programs and services. While the effective communication channels varied by job classification, the highest ranked items were Email, company newsletter, and departmental staff meetings. This information will be incorporated with other data sources from subsequent phases to develop an integrated worksite health promotion model designed to improve employee health, reduce health care costs, and enhance productivity.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the session, participants will be able to
• describe the procedures for conducting a nominal group;
• discuss the role of qualitative data collection in needs assessment; and
• apply the findings to the development of worksite health promotion activities.

Keywords: Worksite, Health Education Strategies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation