What can Workplace Health Promotion Programs provide and what makes them (in)effective?
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2021-01-27
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en
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Background: Workplace Health Promotion Programs (WHPP) have shown to be a great opportunity to improve workers’ physical and mental health, lifestyle habits and workplace environment. Unfortunately not all WHPP’s are successful, some programs fail for example due to a lack of adoption, communication or program sustainability. Most research focuses primarily on measuring the effects of a WHPP, with an occasional process evaluation performed after implementation. However, systematic process evaluations can produce valuable insights into the interpretation of the (lack of) effects of an intervention by identifying successful and unsuccessful program elements. Process evaluation looks inside the so-called black box to see what happened in the program and how that could affect program impacts or outcomes. This study evaluates the effect as well as the implementation process of the Fit@work program, a pilot of a WHPP implemented at the Radboud University in the Netherlands.
Methods: Since this research is concerned with an in depth understanding of the experiences and perspectives of the participants of the Fit@work program, a qualitative research design has been used. Data is collected using a web-based survey with open-ended questions. The web-survey was built in Qualtrics and sent to all 45 participants of the Fit@work program. In total 17 of the 45 participants of the Fit@work program participated in this research. The Eisenhardt method is used to analyse the retrieved data. The data is analyzed in two phases. Phase 1 comprised the within case analysis wherein different experiences and perceptions of the respondents on the impact of the program and the implementation process is analyzed and summarized in a framework matrix. Phase 2 comprised identifying patterns and relationships between different experiences and perceptions of the impact and implementation process of the Fit@work WHPP.
Results: The findings have shown that the largest effect of participating in a WHPP is on lifestyle (13 out of 17 cases). Most frequently mentioned changes participants of the Fit@work program experienced include more physical exercise, adopting a healthier diet and improving quality of sleep. The second largest impact was on mental health (10 out of 17 cases). Participants learned tools and ways to recognise, limit and deal with stress. The least impact (6 out of 17 cases) was on physical health. Less than half of the participants lost weight or feels fitter after following the Fit@work program. The findings furthermore indicate that when the amount of information provided by program leaders at time of recruitment is not sufficient it can lead to lower Implementation and low Implementation leads to no positive effect outcomes. The Implementation determinants showed to have the biggest influence on Implementation and effect outcomes. The characteristics of the participants and characteristics of the organization can lead to low Implementation. The characteristics
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen