title: Effect of Workplace Counseling Interventions Launched by Workplace Health Promotion and Tobacco Control Centers in Taiwan: An Evaluation Based on the Ottawa Charter.
abstract: Workplace health promotion (WHP) is important to prevent work-related diseases, reduce workplace hazards, and improve personal health of the workers. Health promotion projects were launched through the centers of WHP funded by the Taiwan Bureau of Health Promotion since 2003. Hence, the aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of WHP programs intervention from 2003 to 2007. The intervention group consisted of 838 business entities which had ever undergone counseling of the three centers in northern, central, and southern Taiwan from 2003 to 2007. The control group was composed of 1000 business entities randomly selected from the business directories of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan. The questionnaire survey included general company profiles and the assessment of workplace health according to the five action areas of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. We have received 447 (53.3%) questionnaires from the intervention group and 97 questionnaires from the control group. The intervention group was more effective in using the external resources and medical consultation, and they had better follow-up rates of the abnormal results of annual health examinations. Compared to the control group, the intervention group had a significantly decreased smoking rate in 246 companies (61.2%) and a reduced second-hand smoke exposure in 323 companies (78.6%) (p<0.001). By means of the intervention of WHP programs, we can enhance the awareness of the enterprises and the employees to improve worksite health and to create a healthy work environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Department of Family Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tzu-Hua
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Joh-Jong
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Fong-Ching
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Tsz
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hung-Yi
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Chuang
mesh_terms: D003376:Counseling; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D017132:Workplace