title: Health and wellness programs for commercial motor-vehicle drivers: organizational assessment and new research directions.
abstract: The workplace is an invaluable venue for health protection and promotion interventions, particularly for truck drivers due to their overreliance on their work environments, a plethora of work-related stressors, and their morbidity rates. Extant efforts of trucking companies to address driver health through worksite health and wellness programs have been inadequate, producing unsustainable results. The Driver Health and Wellness Program Survey was designed for and disseminated to 46 trucking companies to assess the current state of health and wellness programs in the trucking industry, including program participation rates and longevity, program evaluation procedures, and program activities and resources. Findings indicate that programmatic efforts in trucking companies continue to fall short, and health and wellness programs are insufficient to improve health outcomes in a sustainably positive direction. A new integrated, systems-based paradigm is proposed as a conceptual and methodological framework with the potential to meaningfully advance interventions in blue-collar work settings.
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University Michael.Lemke@hlkn.tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemke
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University Emory University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Yorghos
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Apostolopoulos
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D016272:Occupational Health; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
keywords: environmental injustice; health promotion; occupational health and safety programs; program planning and evaluation; work