WORKSITE HEALTH PROMOTION SCORE: TO ASSESS A HEALTH PROMOTIONAL WORKER SETTING

Abstract

Objective: Workplace play a central role in the lives of employees and their potential as health-promotional-setting is enormous as it could aim at keeping employees healthy which is considered a key long-term human asset management strategy.

To identify health promotion activities and strategies within the worksite a questionnaire was developed to assess the Health-Promotional-Work-Setting (HPWS).

Design and Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 23 government institutions in Sri Lanka. Data were collected using HPWS to asses the worksite health promotion. After an extensive literature review, a checklist was developed to assess institutional programs and policies, and types and frequency of the health programs and policies. The initial checklist consisted of 9 questions. Face and content validity of the checklist was assessed and was pilot tested prior to use. In the checklist each positive response were marked '1' and negative and don't know response were marked '0'. They were added up and interquartile ranges were calculated and the 75th percentile was taken as the cut-off. Data were gathered using five senior-officers and five managerial-assistants to allow for more accurate responses.

Results: The final checklist consisted of 7 questions on health related programs (smoking prevention, alcohol/substance abuse, stress relieving, nutrition promotional activity, health and safety, physical activity and health and safety issues) one question on healthy canteen policy and one question on tobacco control policy. Only five (22%) institutions conducted regular health promotional activities. None of the participants indicated the worksite canteens provided a healthy meal choice.

Conclusions: The HPWS is a feasible tool to collect data on worksite health promotion. Assessing workplace for health promotional setting is important to improve the work environment to be conducive to prevent unhealthy lifestyle practices. The initial information could help prioritize strategies that are relevant, feasible, and consistent with employee needs and health issues.