The health promotion program design choices depend on the objectives and desired outcomes of your health promotion program. When 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 health promotion 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 in terms of obtaining the same results, and accordingly shouldn’t be confused.
For example, scheduling activities like an worker wellness fair or lunchtime education sessions, or having brochures available do not generally lead to behavior change, but may increase awareness on a topic.
If the goal is behavior modification then a different design is required, such as 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 organization makes health information available and accessible to personnel. This type of health promotion program can include flyers on a variety of topics, wellness articles in newsletters, bulletin board displays, e-mail health messages, etc.
Furthermore, most health fairs are designed as awareness programs with vendors providing information and providing biometric testings to staff.
Awareness programs are cheap and do not require comprehensive employee or organization time commitments. Nonetheless, these wellness programs do not typically result in healthier behavior change.
Increasing awareness is not generally enough to generate lifestyle changes for most individuals, unless used to motivate staff 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 tobacco use and inviting employees who smoke to register for a tobacco use cessation class.
Education Programs – Educational health promotion programs often provide more information on a topic and can also provide time for questions and answers, but are similar to awareness health promotion programs. An example is lunch-n-learn sessions on a health related topic.
These cost the corporation a little more than awareness programs; nonetheless, they are still inexpensive and do not require a excellent 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 seminars to provide wellness education, address barriers and provide opportunities to practice the desired skills.
Behavior change programs therefore require more business resources, cost more, and also require more employee commitment, time and effort. The results are often the desired positive lifestyle change, which if sustained can lead to potential cost savings.
Examples are tobacco use cessation classes, weight reduction and weight control 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 wellness program for support and maintain healthy behaviors.
These types of design options include policy changes such as -
o Creating a tobacco-free worksite
o Designating a walking path,
o Establishing onsite health clubs,
o Ensuring healthful vending machine selections,
o Offering healthful food options in the cafeteria, and/or
o Establishing flex-time policies.
Other examples include subsidizing healthy vending machines or cafeteria choices; reimbursing fitness club or weight reduction and weight management program memberships; or providing insurance incentives for healthy behaviors.
Ideally, the wellness program design would include some of all of these choices. The more robust 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 use of tobacco and how to quit;
o can start an onsite tobacco use cessation program,
o supply self quit smoking kits, or
o support employees 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.
Wellness Program – Components for Success
There are a few key components or elements that ought to be considered to ensure the success of your Wellness Program or wellness program. These include -
o Upper-Level Management Support and Worker Involvement
o Active Health Promotion Committee
o Program is Based on Employee Needs and Interests
o Goals and Objectives are Established
o Detailed Action Plan Based on Resources and Budget
o Program Implementation and Internal Marketing and Advertising
o Analysis of Outcomes and Program