Objective:
To determine: (1) What research has been done on health promotion interventions for low-wage workers and (2) what factors are associated with effective low-wage workers’ health promotion ...programs.
Data Source:
This review includes articles from PubMed and PsychINFO published in or before July 2016.
Study Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria:
The search yielded 130 unique articles, 35 met the inclusion criteria: (1) being conducted in the United States, (2) including an intervention or empirical data around health promotion among adult low-wage workers, and (3) measuring changes in low-wage worker health.
Data Extraction:
Central features of the selected studies were extracted, including the theoretical foundation; study design; health promotion intervention content and delivery format; intervention-targeted outcomes; sample characteristics; and work, occupational, and industry characteristics.
Data Analysis:
Consistent with a scoping review, we used a descriptive, content analysis approach to analyze extracted data. All authors agreed upon emergent themes and 2 authors independently coded data extracted from each article.
Results:
The results suggest that the research on low-wage workers’ health promotion is limited, but increasing, and that low-wage workers have limited access to and utilization of worksite health promotion programs.
Conclusion:
Workplace health promotion programs could have a positive effect on low-wage workers, but more work is needed to understand how to expand access, what drives participation, and which delivery mechanisms are most effective.
Purpose:
This study tested relationships between health and well-being best practices and 3 types of outcomes.
Design:
A cross-sectional design used data from the HERO Scorecard Benchmark Database.
...Setting:
Data were voluntarily provided by employers who submitted web-based survey responses.
Sample:
Analyses were limited to 812 organizations that completed the HERO Scorecard between January 12, 2015 and October 2, 2017.
Measures:
Independent variables included organizational and leadership support, program comprehensiveness, program integration, and incentives. Dependent variables included participation rates, health and medical cost impact, and perceptions of organizational support.
Analysis:
Three structural equation models were developed to investigate the relationships among study variables.
Results:
Model sample size varied based on organizationally reported outcomes. All models fit the data well (comparative fit index > 0.96). Organizational and leadership support was the strongest predictor (P < .05) of participation (n = 276 organizations), impact (n = 160 organizations), and perceived organizational support (n = 143 organizations). Incentives predicted participation in health assessment and biometric screening (P < .05). Program comprehensiveness and program integration were not significant predictors (P > .05) in any of the models.
Conclusion:
Organizational and leadership support practices are essential to produce participation, health and medical cost impact, and perceptions of organizational support. While incentives influence participation, they are likely insufficient to yield downstream outcomes. The overall study design limits the ability to make causal inferences from the data.
BackgroundOver 20% of healthcare workers (HCWs) are active smokers. Smoking is a targeted issue for workplace health promotion (WHP) programs. ObjectiveOur study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of ...the Stop Smoking Promotion (SSP) intervention, a 6-hour training course for HCWs, which took place from May 2018 to July 2019. MethodsWe compared HCWs who successfully quit smoking (n = 15) to those who did not (n = 25) in terms of Sickness Absence Days (SADs). Moreover, we conducted an econometric analysis by calculating the return on investment and implementing a break-even analysis. FindingsAmong the 40 enrolled workers, a success rate of 37.5% was observed after a span of over two years from the SSP intervention (with nurses and physicians showed the best success rate). Overall, participants showed a noticeable absenteeism reduction after the SSP intervention, with a reduction rate of 85.0% in a one-year period. The estimated ROI for the hospital was 1.90, and the break-even point was 7.85. In other words, the organization nearly doubled its profit from the investment, and the success of at least eight participants balanced costs and profits. ConclusionOur pilot study confirms that WHP programs are simple and cost-saving tools which may help improve control over the smoking pandemic in healthcare settings.
Purpose:
To examine how the availability of and participation in workplace health promotion programs (WHPPs) vary as a function of sociodemographic, occupation, and work organization characteristics.
...Design:
Cross-sectional study.
Setting:
2015 National Health Interview Survey and Occupational Health Supplement.
Participants:
The study sample included 17 469 employed adults who completed the WHPP questions.
Measures:
The 2 dependent outcome measures were availability of WHPPs and participation in these programs when available. Independent variables included occupation and 8 work organization and employment characteristics: company size, hours worked, supervisory responsibility, hourly pay, paid sick leave, health insurance offered by employer, work schedule, and work arrangement.
Analysis:
Poisson regression analyses were conducted with SUDAAN 11.0.1.
Results:
Overall, 57.8% of 46.6% employees who have WHPPs available reported participating in these programs. This study found that adults who worked ≤20 h/wk, worked regular night shifts, were paid by the hour, or worked for temporary agencies were less likely to participate in WHPPs. Workers who supervised others were 13% more likely to participate than nonsupervisors. Borderline associations were seen for having access to employer-sponsored health insurance and working at a site with <10 employees.
Conclusion:
Despite the potential for improving physical and mental health, only 58% of US workers participated in WHPPs. Since barriers to WHPP participation (eg, time constraints, lack of awareness, and no perceived need) may vary across occupations and work organization characteristics, employers should tailor WHPPs based on their specific work organization characteristics to maximize participation.
Although workplace health promotion (WHP) has evolved over the last 40 years, systematically collected knowledge on factors influencing the functioning of WHP is scarce. Therefore, a qualitative ...systematic literature review was carried out to systematically identify and synthesize factors influencing the phases of WHP interventions: needs assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. Research evidence was identified by searching electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, Social Sciences Citation Index, ASSIA, ERIC, IBBS and PsycINFO) from 1998 to 2013, as well as by cross-checking reference lists of included peer-reviewed articles. The inclusion criteria were: original empirical research, description of WHP, description of barriers to and/or facilitators of the planning, implementation and/or evaluation of WHP. Finally, 54 full texts were included. From these, influencing factors were extracted and summarized using thematic analysis. The majority of influencing factors referred to the implementation phase, few dealt with planning and/or evaluation and none with needs assessment. The influencing factors were condensed into topics with respect to factors at contextual level (e.g. economic crisis); factors at organizational level (e. g. management support); factors at intervention level (e.g. quality of intervention concept); factors at implementer level (e. g. resources); factors at participant level (e.g. commitment to intervention) and factors referring to methodological and data aspects (e.g. data-collection issues). Factors regarding contextual issues and organizational aspects were identified across three phases. Therefore, future research and practice should consider not only the influencing factors at different levels, but also at different phases of WHP interventions.
Examine user perceptions of the Mind Your Heart (MYH) program, a mindful eating and nutrition education program delivered via an eHealth system.
Sixteen participants (41.5 ± 13.1 years) completed ...sample MYH lessons over 3 weeks. We examined changes in mindfulness from the State Mindfulness Scale via text messages sent 3 times per week. We assessed MYH user perceptions in a semistructured interview after 3 weeks. Analyses included Spearman's correlation, repeated measures ANOVA, and thematic analysis.
State Mindfulness Scale scores were significantly improved (F1,15 = 5.35, P = 0.01) from week 1 (M = 2.28 ± 0.80) to week 3 (M = 2.75 ± 1.04). Four themes emerged: (1) MYH is supportive of health goals, (2) text messages act as an intervention, (3) facilitators or inhibitors of use, and (4) enhancing engagement.
Based on participant feedback, the final version of MYH should include example-based learning to translate abstract concepts like mindful eating into action.
Depression and anxiety are the most prevalent mental health difficulties in the EU, causing immense suffering and costing the global economy EUR 1 trillion each year in lost productivity. Employees ...in construction, health and information and communications technology have an elevated risk of mental health difficulties. Most mental health interventions for the workplace have been targeted at larger companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often overlooked despite most people being employed in SMEs. The MENTUPP intervention aims to improve mental health and wellbeing and reduce depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviour. The MENTUPP project involves the development, implementation, and evaluation of a multilevel intervention targeting both clinical and non-clinical mental health issues and combating the stigma of mental (ill-)health, with a specific focus on SMEs. The intervention is underpinned by a framework of how to create a mentally healthy workplace by employing an integrated approach and has been informed by several systematic reviews designed to understand organisational mental health interventions and a consultation survey with key experts in the area. The intervention is facilitated through the MENTUPP Hub, an online platform that presents interactive psychoeducational materials, toolkits, and links to additional resources in an accessible and user-friendly manner. This paper presents the pilot study protocol for delivering the MENTUPP intervention in eight European countries and Australia. Each intervention country will aim to recruit at least 23 participants in 1-3 SMEs in one of the three high-risk sectors. The central aim of the pilot study will be to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and uptake of the MENTUPP intervention across the target SMEs. The findings will contribute to devising the protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) of the MENTUPP intervention. Findings from this study will also be used to inform the optimisation phase of the MENTUPP intervention which will aim to improve the materials and the implementation of the intervention as well as enhancing the evaluation strategy which will be employed for the cRCT.
An integrated workplace health promotion program (WHPP) which targets multiple lifestyle factors at different levels (individual and organizational) is potentially more effective than a single ...component WHPP. The aim of this study is to describe the protocol of a study to tailor a European good practice of such an integral approach to the Dutch context and to evaluate its effectiveness and implementation.
This study consists of two components. First, the five steps of the Map of Adaptation Process (MAP) will be followed to tailor the Lombardy WHP to the Dutch context. Both the employers and employees will be actively involved in this process. Second, the effectiveness of the integrated Dutch WHPP will be evaluated in a clustered randomized controlled trial (C-RCT) with measurements at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Clusters will be composed based on working locations or units - dependent on the organization's structure and randomization within each organization takes place after baseline measurements. Primary outcome will be a combined lifestyle score. Secondary outcomes will be the separate lifestyle behaviors targeted, stress, work-life balance, need for recovery, general health, and well-being. Simultaneously, a process evaluation will be conducted. The study population will consist of employees from multiple organizations in different industry sectors. Organizations in the intervention condition will receive the integrated Dutch WHPP during 12 months, consisting of an implementation plan and a catalogue with activities for multiple lifestyle themes on various domains: 1) screening and support; 2) information and education; 3) adjustments in the social, digital or physical environment; and 4) policy.
The MAP approach provides an appropriate framework to systematically adapt an existing WHPP to the Dutch context, involving both employers and employees and retaining the core elements, i.e. the catalogue with evidence-based activities on multiple lifestyle themes and domains enabling an integrated approach. The following process and effect evaluation will contribute to further insight in the actual implementation and effectiveness of the integrated WHP approach.
NTR (trialregister.nl ), NL9526. Registered on 3 June 2021.
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