Increasing the health promotion practices of workplaces in Australia with a proactive telephone-based intervention.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to explore the potential effectiveness of a proactive telephone-based intervention in increasing workplace adoption of health promotion initiatives.


METHODS
A telephone-based direct marketing strategy was used to contact a sample of Australian workplaces to encourage the adoption of health promotion initiatives. Workplaces were offered free services and resources designed to facilitate adoption of health promotion initiatives.


RESULTS
A total of 227 (71%) workplaces provided informed consent to participate in both baseline and 4-year follow-up surveys. Significant increases were evident for seven of the eight health promotion initiatives.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study suggest that a proactive telephone-based intervention has the potential to be effective in increasing the prevalence of health promotion initiatives across a range of health topics in a large population of workplaces. Given the capacity to reach an entire population of workplaces, this approach represents a promising means of achieving the established potential of workplace health promotion.
Daly
Justine
J
Hunter Population Health, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. justine.daly@hunter.health.nsw.gov.au
Licata
Milly
M
Gillham
Karen
K
Wiggers
John
J
D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009517:New South Wales; D016730:Program Development; D013689:Telephone; D017132:Workplace