Employer Adoption of Evidence-Based Chronic Disease Prevention Practices: A Pilot Study

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Harris, Jeffrey R ; Cross, Jeffrey ; Hannon, Peggy A ; Mahoney, Eustacia ; Ross-Viles, Sarah ; Kuniyuki, Alan
• Description:
  Background ; We conducted a pilot test of American Cancer Society Workplace Solutions, an intervention that takes a marketing approach to increasing employers' adoption of evidence-based practices to prevent and control chronic diseases among their employees. ; Context ; We delivered the intervention and assessed the changes in practices of 8 large employers in the Pacific Northwest. ; Methods ; Workplace Solutions recommends 15 employer practices in 5 categories: 1) health insurance benefits, 2) policies, 3) workplace programs, 4) health-promoting communication, and 5) tracking of employee health behaviors to measure progress. The intervention includes 4 meetings with employers over 2 months and begins with a questionnaire-based assessment of employer practices. Tailored recommendations follow, along with practice-specific implementation assistance on requested topics. We tested the intervention in a before–after study without a comparison group. ; Consequences ; The employers ranged in size from 7500 to 115,522 employees and included private companies and public employers. Seven of the eight employers implemented more of the recommended practices at follow-up (an average of 13 months after the intervention) than at baseline. Overall, implementation of the practices increased from 38% at baseline to 61% at follow-up (P = .02). ; Interpretation ; Workplace Solutions is a promising new approach to bringing evidence-based best practices for preventing chronic disease to large numbers of adults.
• Subjects:
  • Adult
  • Chronic Disease
  • Evidence-Based Medicine
  • Health Promotion
  • Humans
  • Northwestern United States
  • Occupational Health
  • Pilot Projects
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 2008; 5(3).
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  1-U48-DP-000050/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  Northwestern United States
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  5
• Issue:
  3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/20265/cdc_20265_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 451.85 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f0ffef6f2fdf35afcd1f906f9320fc9b7d5f38989cff8ae5798c92c34935ff9f29426d9db265473ff3f15ea9bcb595b239be0ac07673b85b7227143931a8d68f