Effectiveness of a health promotion program among employees in a western United States school district.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of a worksite wellness program in decreasing health risk.


METHODS
Analyses were based on 2411 employees from a school district in the western United States that participated in the WellSteps wellness program for 12 months.


RESULTS
The numbers of high-risk employees at baseline were 683 for body mass index, 360 for systolic blood pressure, 242 for diastolic blood pressure, 72 for blood glucose, and 216 for total cholesterol. Among participants, 46.0% lowered body mass index, 34.7% lowered systolic blood pressure, 56.3% lowered diastolic blood pressure, 65.6% lowered blood glucose, and 38.6% lowered total cholesterol. The percentages moving out of the high-risk categories after 1 year were 11.6%, 39.4%, 70.7%, 38.9%, and 40.7%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The worksite wellness program effectively lowered risk measures among those identified in high-risk categories at baseline.
From the Department of Health Science, College of Life Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
Ray M
RM
Merrill
Arielle
A
Sloan
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001699:Biometry; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D012574:Schools; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014589:Utah; D055815:Young Adult
D001786:Blood Glucose; D002784:Cholesterol