Health Promotion in the Workplace: Suggested Directions for Research

Health promotion programming in the workplace is one of the most promising developments in health care during the last decade. In an era when employee health care costs have doubled for most companies in less than ten years, ~ employer-sponsored health promotion programs offer the potential long-term benefits of decreasing health care claims, lowering absenteeism and enhancing worker health, morale and productivity? -~ The first generation of health promotion research studies in worksites focused primarily on cost benefit or cost effectiveness analysis of programs. Bottom line concerns were addressed to determine the monetary impact of these new health ventures. 6-~ While some of the early studies were too small in sample size or too weak methodologically to produce sound data, recent large-scale studies provide support for employer savings as a result of health promotion efforts. 9A~ Although further longitudinal studies of the cost impact of health promotion programs need to be conducted, the purpose of this Research Agenda section is to identify additional directions for the second generation of research studies on health promotion in the workplace. Three areas suggested for emphasis in future research efforts include: 1) factors influencing maintenance of health behavior change over time, 2) characteristics of health strengthening work environments, and 3) considerations in structuring health promotion efforts for an increasingly diverse workforce.