Archive for June, 2009
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Measuring Program Results
Information to evaluate your program comes from regularly gathered screening and follow-up data of your program that look at process and outcomes of your program.
The Worker Health Program has available a computerized case-management system which includes queries that allow easy assessment of process and outcome results at any point in time.
Process Assessment
Process evaluation looks at [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : The keys to a thriving wellness program are persistent one-on-one outreach and follow-up counseling to encourage health improvement, adherence to treatment regimens, changes in lifestyle behaviors, and to prevent relapse. Periodic outreach and follow-up procedures offer staff members with a safety net which keeps them involved in the program and prevents treatment dropout and relapse.
Counselors must follow up on employees at least every 6 months throughout the career of the employee at the workplace. The objectives and goals of follow-up are to:
• Involve employees who have health risks in treatment and risk reduction programs.
• Involve all staff members in health improvement programs and worksite-wide wellness activities.
• Support staff [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Menu Approach of Services
The menu approach offers staff members a range of options to support lifestyle changes. It allows people to choose the kind of help that suits their schedules and preferences.
The four basic types of programs include:
• Classes
• Minigroups
• Guided self help
• Individual counseling
Classes
Classes (8 or more) can be an effective means of providing education and [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Stress Management
The educational program ought to include approaches to stress awareness/reduction at the environmental level and at the individual level.
Social, physical, and organization stressors should be explained and methods to ease or elevate stressors should be presented. At the individual level how changes in attitudes and behaviors help one to cope with stressors; learning techniques to [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Nutrition Education
A nutrition education program must include a nutritional needs assessment, education counseling, and referral as necessary.
Educational sessions and materials must include the following information:
• The relationship of diet and chronic diseases
• Improving eating patterns
• Relationship of nutrition and proper weight maintenance
• Exercise
• Stress
• Blood Pressure (BP)
• Cholesterol
• Diabetes and other chronic diseases.
• Nutritionally accurate information [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Smoking Cessation
It is recommended that tobacco cessation programs subscribe to the Code Of Practice for Smoking Cessation Programs.
Smoking cessation programs should be multi-component with a focus on skills to build positive voluntary behavior modification practices. Useful techniques include establishing reasons for stopping, understanding the smoking habit, various techniques for stopping and remaining a non-smoker, overcoming the [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Exercise Programs
Participatory physical activity programs should include education on benefits of regular exercise and risks of a sedentary lifestyle, its influence on cardiovascular health and diseases, its relationship with weight control and stress management, and aerobic exercise options. Discussion and practice of safe principles of exercise – warm up, cool down, frequency, intensity, duration, flexibility and [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Weight Control
Program offered is consistent with scientific and health care recommendations for weight loss, reflects a multi-disciplinary approach which offers four components: behavioral, exercise, nutrition, and maintenance, and is in accordance with the document Guidance For Treatment Of Adult Obesity. It includes:
• Screening to verify that the participant has no medical or psychological conditions which would [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Cholesterol Measurement and Education
A program is necessitated to provide appropriate interpretation of cholesterol assessment results, including a caution that a single measurement neither excludes nor establishes a diagnosis of their blood cholesterol.
Follow national ground rules:
Total Cholesterol
Desirable cholesterol < 200 mg/dl
Borderline cholesterol 200 – 239 mg/dl
High cholesterol > 240 mg/dl
HDL
Desirable HDL > 35 mg/dl
Low HDL < 35 mg/dl
Refer cholesterol screening [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Blood Pressure Measurement and Education
Appropriate healthcare or allied health professional trained in measurement of Blood Pressure, referral protocols, and delivering educational messages to participant delivering Blood Pressure programs. These programs are necessitated to follow national guidelines.
• National guidelines for Blood Pressure (BP) protocols:
o Calibration of Blood Pressure quantifying equipment
be done at least annually.
o Two or more measurements of participant’s [...]