title: Development and Impact of a Worksite Wellness Champions Program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Wellness champions have potential to be a high-reach, low-cost intervention for improving employee health, but research is needed to support this premise. Therefore, this project assessed the impact of a worksite wellness champions program at a large integrated healthcare organization.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2315 employees responded (56% response rate) to a survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Program participants (N = 666) were more likely to agree that the organization provides a supportive environment to live a healthy lifestyle (82.7% vs 69.4%, p < .001), more likely to agree co-workers support one another in practicing a healthy lifestyle (76.8% vs 53.7%, p < .001), and to rate their overall health and wellness higher (p < .005) compared to those not familiar with the wellness champions program (N = 675).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Employees participating in wellness champion activities have increased their awareness of wellness opportunities, feel supported for having a healthy lifestyle, and rate their perceived health and wellness higher.
authors.affiliation: Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. wieneke.kaisa@mayo.edu.
authors.forename: Kaisa C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Wieneke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Linde E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Sifuentes
authors.affiliation: Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Jason S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Egginton
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lopez-Jimenez
authors.affiliation: Division of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.affiliation: Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Beth A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.affiliation: Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Kerry D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Olsen
mesh_terms: D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016272:Occupational Health; D015397:Program Evaluation; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*