Wellness Program Design Options.

The health promotion program design choices depend on the goals and desired outcomes of your health promotion program. If your goal is to help workers 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 respecting obtaining the same results, and as a result should not be confused.

For example, scheduling activities like an staff member wellness fair or lunchtime education sessions, or having pamphlets available don’t typically result in behavior change, but may increase awareness on a topic.

When the goal is behavior change 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 kind of health promotion program can include flyers on a variety of topics, wellness articles in newsletters, bulletin board displays, e-mail health messages, etc.

In addition, most health fairs are designed as awareness programs with vendors providing information and providing health screenings to staff members.

Awareness programs are inexpensive and don’t require robust staff member or corporation time commitments. Nonetheless, these wellness programs don’t usually result in healthier behavior change.

Increasing awareness isn’t generally enough to generate lifestyle changes for most individuals, unless used to motivate personnel to register for a wellness program being offered at the organization or community on the topic.

An example of this would be providing information on the harmful effects of use of tobacco and inviting staff 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 company a little more than awareness programs; however, they’re still cheap and do not require a great deal of time for planning or attending a session.

Again, increasing awareness and providing information might not lead to the desired behavior modification unless ongoing support or incentives are also planned.

Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs –   These wellness programs are designed as 4 to 12 weekly sessions or workshops to provide wellness education, address barriers and provide opportunities to practice the desired skills.

Behavior change programs therefore require more corporation resources, cost more, and require more staff member commitment, time and effort.  The results are often the desired positive lifestyle change, which when sustained can lead to potential cost savings.

Examples are use of tobacco 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 critical level to include when designing your health promotion program for support and maintain healthy behaviors.

These kinds of design choices include policy changes like -

o  Creating a smoke-free worksite

o  Designating a walking path,

o  Establishing onsite health clubs,

o  Ensuring healthy vending machine selections,

o  Offering healthful food choices in the cafeteria, and/or

o  Establishing flex-time policies.

Other examples include subsidizing healthy vending machines or cafeteria choices; reimbursing fitness center or weight loss and weight control program memberships; or providing insurance incentives for healthy behaviors.

Ideally, the health promotion program design would include some of all these choices.  The more comprehensive and integrated the approach, the more successful the results will be.  For  instance, a organization can -

o  have tobacco cessation information available;

o  can schedule a one hour awareness session on the harmful effects of tobacco use and how to quit;

o  can implement an on-site use of tobacco cessation program,

o  supply self quit tobacco use kits, or

o  support staff to attend a community program; and/or

o  on an environmental support level can establish a tobacco-free workplace and grounds,

o  offer lower insurance premiums for non-smokers, or

o  provide pharmacological quit smoke aids for free.

Health Promotion Program –  Components for Success

There are several key components or elements that must be considered to ensure the success of your Health Promotion Program or health promotion program.  These include -

o  Senior Management Support and Worker Involvement

o  Active Wellness Committee

o  Program is Based on Employee Needs and Interests

o  Objectives and Goals are Established

o  Detailed Action Plan Based on Resources and Budget

o  Program Implementation and Internal Marketing

o  Evaluation of Outcomes and Program