Heart check: the development and evolution of an organizational heart health assessment.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to document the development, testing, and application of an organizational assessment tool used to measure employer support for heart health. Additional information is presented on its future research and applications plan.


METHODS
This article represents the pooling of results from multiple studies using a variety of designs, including pilot tests, cross-sectional analyses, and quasi-experiments.


METHODS
Worksites covering the spectrum of employers across industry types and size, and throughout all of New York State.


METHODS
Over 10,000 New York employees and 1000 New York employers are represented in the multiple phases of this research.


METHODS
Heart Check is a 226-item inventory designed to measure such features in the worksite as organizational foundations, administrative supports, tobacco control, nutrition support, physical activity support, stress management, screening services, and company demographics. Additional side studies used professional judgments and behavioral surveys.


RESULTS
As an assessment tool Heart Check shows evidence for reliability and validity. Applications of the instrument show characteristics that define high-scoring companies, quasi standards for New York employers, and, when applied during interventions, positive changes in organizational support levels.


CONCLUSIONS
A relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use, and metrically tested instrument exists for measuring the construct of organizational support for employee heart health. The instrument shows promise as part of a system to enhance heart health through public health-based interventions in the workplace.
Golaszewski
Thomas
T
Department of Health Science, SUNY at Brockport, 17D Hartwell Hall, Brockport, NY 14420, USA.
Fisher
Brian
B
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires