Health promotion site selection blues: barriers to participation and implementation.
OBJECTIVE
To shed light on research-to-practice challenges in workplace health promotion research.


METHODS
More than 1200 companies serviced by a national insurer were assessed by measures, including management surveys, and insurance premium costs and risk profile. A 21-item Workplace Readiness Checklist was the core assessment tool. Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to identify 12 to 14 companies deemed most "ready for change."


RESULTS
The four priority candidate companies decided against participation. A post hoc survey to evaluate reasons for non-participation identified factors such as time allocations, the deteriorating economic environment, and the participatory nature of the interventions proposed for half of the study sites. Differing priorities within management also seemed to interfere with participation.


CONCLUSIONS
A highly structured process for determining corporate readiness for participatory health promotion produced contradictory results.
Department of Medicine, Ergonomics Technology Center, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030-2017, USA. cherniack@nso.uchc.edu
Martin
M
Cherniack
Tim
T
Morse
Robert
R
Henning
Adam
A
Seidner
Laura
L
Punnett
D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016272:Occupational Health; D017132:Workplace / Q000191:economics