Marketing Workplace Chronic Disease Prevention

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Employers have the incentive and the means to play a key role in chronic disease prevention. The[unreadable] incentive?employers need to control the costly and growing burden of chronic diseases among their[unreadable] employees. The means?employers purchase 94% of private health insurance, and employees spend one[unreadable] third of their lives in the workplace, where they often eat, move, socialize, and smoke. Over the past 5[unreadable] years, the CDC and the Task Force on Community Preventive Services have recommended a number of[unreadable] chronic-disease-prevention practices. Among these, we have identified 15 practices that employers should[unreadable] adopt. These practices include health insurance benefits, workplace policies, and workplace programs, and[unreadable] aim at increasing employees' disease screening, healthy eating, influenza immunization, physical activity,[unreadable] and tobacco cessation. Unfortunately, employer surveys reveal low adoption of these practices.[unreadable] Working with the American Cancer Society, our research team from the University of Washington has[unreadable] developed and pilot-tested an innovative consulting intervention to increasing adoption of these practices.[unreadable] Our two-stage intervention is comprehensive yet tailored by employer feedback. The intervention a) markets[unreadable] the "business case" that employers can help control health-care costs and productivity losses through[unreadable] adoption of these practices, and b) enables implementation by providing tools for each practice.[unreadable] In this proposal, our primary aim is to test this intervention in a randomized, controlled trial among 48[unreadable] medim-sized employers with a high proportion of socioeconomically disadvantaged employees in the Puget[unreadable] Sound area. Our primary outcome is change in employer practices as measured by survey and validated by[unreadable] audit and contract and policy review. Our secondary aims include a) development and pilot-testing of an[unreadable] employee-level behavior survey, b) cost analysis and assessment of feasibility of our intervention, and c)[unreadable] assessment of employees' preference for different message sources and message appeals.[unreadable] Our multidisciplinary research team includes Business, Communication, and Public Health faculty and[unreadable] has more than 10 years of experience in both chronic disease prevention and working with business. If[unreadable] uccessful, our team's approach of working with a national community partner to market organizational[unreadable] oractice changes to employers has broad applicability to other public health problems.[unreadable]