Posted by Worksite Wellness | Posted in worksite wellness programs | Posted on 19-01-2009
Worksite Wellness Program evaluation is critical for effective Wellness and will help you get Upper Management support.
Why evaluate your Worksite Wellness Program?
Worksite Wellness Program evaluation answers these questions:
• What change(s) occurred in the target population?
• ‘What’s in it’ for Upper Management?
• Are the resources that are being used worth the outcomes that are reached?
• Were Worksite Wellness Program outcomes expected? (Unexpected outcomes may have occurred.)
• What Worksite Wellness Program areas need improvement?
Worksite Wellness Program Fact of Life:
Worksite Wellness Program evaluation left to “chance” or until “there is time” will never happen.
• Worksite Wellness Program evaluation should be considered as an essential part of the whole plan for Wellness and not as something extra.
Where do you start?
Keep it simple. Worksite Wellness Program evaluation does not have to be complicated.
• Get baseline data.
• Baseline data is the health status of the target population at the beginning of the Worksite Wellness Program.
• Begin by collecting just 3 or 4 key items as the baseline. You will have better success collecting follow-up information later if you only need to get a few pieces of data.
• Don’t rely only on health indicators that require lab evaluation. Also use self-report information and health indicators that are measurable without lab tests.
• Collect data that relates to readiness.
• You should always be ready to communicate to leadership the ways that your Worksite Wellness Program impacts readiness. Plan ahead to collect data that will demonstrate this connection.
• Think like Upper Management: what Worksite Wellness Program outcomes will be important from Upper Management point of view?
• It’s never too late to incorporate Worksite Wellness Program evaluation into Worksite Wellness Programs.
• If your Worksite Wellness Program is already up and running and you didn’t plan for data collection ahead of time, start collecting data NOW.
• If you don’t have baseline data, then collect interim data and compare that to end-of-program data.
• Or, you can compare final Worksite Wellness Program outcomes to similar programs elsewhere.
If you can’t make any comparisons to other data, use resources like The Community Guide (http://www.thecommunityguide.org/ ) that have already evaluated the effectiveness of Worksite Wellness Program components. Compare the components of your Worksite Wellness Program to those that have been proven effective elsewhere.