Wellness Programs : Wellness Program Design Choices.
The health promotion program design choices depend on the goals and desired outcomes of your health promotion program. If your goal is to help staff members change behavior, reduce risk factors, or save healthcare dollars then your health promotion program would be designed to accomplish those outcomes and a budget would be necessary to support that design.
There are different wellness program design levels depending on desired outcomes and budgets. Each level has benefits and drawbacks. The intentions or results are quite different, are not interchangeable for obtaining the same results, and accordingly shouldn’t be confused.
For instance, scheduling activities like an worker health fair or lunchtime education sessions, or having handouts available do not typically lead to behavior change, but may increase awareness on a topic.
When the goal is behavior modification then a different design is required, like Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs and Organizational Support. The outline below describes the wellness design levels with a brief explanation.
Awareness Programs – at this level a company makes health information available and accessible to employees. This type of health promotion program can include pamphlets on a variety of topics, wellness articles in newsletters, bulletin board displays, e-mail health messages, etc.
Moreover, most wellness fairs are designed as awareness programs with vendors providing information and providing biometric screenings to personnel.
Awareness programs are affordable and do not require comprehensive employee or organization time commitments. Nevertheless, these wellness programs do not typically lead to healthier behavior change.
Increasing awareness isn’t normally enough to generate lifestyle changes for most individuals, unless used to motivate staff to register for a health promotion program being offered at the company or community on the topic.
An example of this would be providing information on the harmful effects of use of tobacco and inviting personnel who smoke to register for a use of tobacco cessation class.
Education Programs – Educational wellness programs often provide more information on a topic and can also provide time for questions and answers, but are similar to awareness wellness programs. An example is lunch-n-learn sessions on a health related topic.
These cost the business a little more than awareness programs; nonetheless, they’re still inexpensive and do not require a great deal of time for planning or attending a session.
Again, increasing awareness and providing information may not lead to the desired behavior modification unless ongoing support or incentives are also planned.
Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs – These health promotion programs are designed as 4 to 12 weekly sessions or seminars to provide wellness education, address barriers and provide opportunities to practice the desired skills.
Behavior change programs hence require more organization resources, cost more, and also require more employee commitment, time and effort. The results are often the desired positive lifestyle change, which when sustained can lead to potential cost savings.
Examples are tobacco use cessation classes, weight reduction and weight management meetings, or an ongoing fitness program.
Environmental and Organizational Support – Environmental support is often considered the highest and most important level to include when designing your wellness program to support and maintain healthy behaviors.
These kinds of design choices include policy changes like –
• Creating a tobacco-free workplace
• Designating a walking path,
• Establishing on-site fitness centers,
• Ensuring healthful vending machine selections,
• Offering healthful food options in the cafeteria, and/or
• Establishing flex-time policies.
Other examples include subsidizing healthy vending machines or cafeteria choices; reimbursing fitness center or weight reduction and weight control program memberships; or providing insurance incentives for healthy behaviors.
Ideally, the wellness program design would include some of all these choices. The more extensive and integrated the approach, the more successful the results will be. For example, a company can –
• have smoking cessation information available;
• can schedule a one hour awareness session on the harmful effects of use of tobacco and how to quit;
• can begin an on-site smoking cessation program,
• supply self quit use of tobacco kits, or
• support workforce to attend a community program; and/or
• on an environmental support level can establish a smoke-free worksite and grounds,
• offer lower insurance premiums for non-smokers, or
• provide pharmacological quit smoke aids for free.
Health Promotion Program – Components for Success
There are several key components or elements that should be considered to ensure the success of your Health Promotion Program or health promotion program. These include –
• Senior Level Management Support and Worker Involvement
• Active Health Promotion Committee
• Program is Based on Staff Member Needs and Interests
• Goals and Objectives are Established
• Detailed Action Plan Based on Resources and Budget
• Program Implementation and Internal Advertising
• Analysis of Outcomes and Program