Drug Education and Intervention in the Workplace

The program design options hinge upon the goals and objectives and desired outcomes of your program.  If your intention is to help staff members modify behavior, reduce risk factors, or save medical care dollars then your wellness program would be designed to accomplish those outcomes and a budget would be helpful to support that design.  

There are different wellness program design levels depending on desired outcomes and budgets.  Each level has advantages and disadvantages.  The intentions or results are quite different, are not interchangeable in terms of obtaining the same results, and therefore should not be confused.  For example, scheduling activities such as an employee health & wellness fair or lunchtime education sessions, or having brochures available do not usually result in behavior change, but may expand awareness on a topic.  If the objective is behavior change then a different design is necessary, such as Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs and Company 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 workers.  This type of program can include handouts on a variety of topics, wellness articles in newsletters, bulletin board displays, e-mail health messages, etc.   Also, most health fairs are designed as awareness programs with vendors providing information and providing health screenings to workers.  

Awareness programs are inexpensive and do not require extensive employee or employer time commitments.  Nevertheless, these programs do not usually yield behavior modification.  Growing awareness isn’t usually sufficient to generate lifestyle changes for most people, unless used to excite workers to register for a program being available at the employer or neighborhood on the topic.  An example of this would be providing information on the dangerous effects of smoking and inviting workers who smoke to register for a smoking cessation class.

Education Programs:  Educational programs frequently provide more information on a topic and usually also provide time for Q & A, but are similar to awareness programs.  An example is lunch-n-learn sessions on a health related topic.  These cost the business a modest amount more than awareness programs; however, they are still inexpensive and do not require a great deal of time for planning or attending a session.  Again, increasing awareness and offering information may not lead to the desired behavior modification unless ongoing backing or incentives are also planned.

Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs:  These programs are designed as 4 to 12 weekly sessions or classes to offer wellness and health education, address barriers and offer opportunities to practice the desired skills.  Behavior change programs therefore require additional organization resources, cost more, and also require additional employee commitment, time and effort.  The results are frequently the desired positive lifestyle change, which if sustained can lead to potential cost savings.  

Examples include smoking cessation classes, weight loss and weight management meetings, or an ongoing physical activity program.

Environmental and Corporation Support:  Environmental backing is often considered the highest and most significant level to include when beginning your wellness program in order to support and maintain healthy behaviors.  These types of design options include policy changes such as:

• Creating a tobacco-free workplace
• Designating a walking path,
• Organizing onsite fitness centers,
• Ensuring healthy snack machines selections,
• Offering healthy meal choices in the cafeteria, and/or
• Securing flex-time policies.  

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

Ideally, the wellness program design would include some of all of these options.  The more comprehensive the approach, the more successful the outcome will be.  For example, a corporation can have tobacco cessation information available; can schedule a one hour awareness session on the harmful effects of smoking and how to quit; can start an worksite tobacco cessation program, supply self quit smoking kits, or support employees to go to a area program; and/or on an environmental backing level can establish a smoke-free workplace and grounds, offer reduced health insurance for non-smokers, or support pharmacological quit smoking aids for free.

Employee Wellness Program: Components for Success

There are many main elements that need to be considered to ensure the success of your Company Wellness Program or Company Wellness Program.  These include:  

• Senior Management Support & Employee Involvement
• Active Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee
• Program is Based on Employee Needs & Interests
• Goals and Objectives are Established
• Detailed Action Plan Based on Resources & Budget
• Program Implementation & Internal Marketing
• Evaluation of Outcomes and Program