Employers have the incentive and the means to play a key role in chronic disease prevention. The? incentive?employers need to control the costly and growing burden of chronic diseases among their? employees. The means?employers purchase 94% of private health insurance, and employees spend one? third of their lives in the workplace, where they often eat, move, socialize, and smoke. Over the past 5? years, the CDC and the Task Force on Community Preventive Services have recommended a number of? chronic-disease-prevention practices. Among these, we have identified 15 practices that employers should? adopt. These practices include health insurance benefits, workplace policies, and workplace programs, and? aim at increasing employees' disease screening, healthy eating, influenza immunization, physical activity,? and tobacco cessation. Unfortunately, employer surveys reveal low adoption of these practices.? Working with the American Cancer Society, our research team from the University of Washington has? developed and pilot-tested an innovative consulting intervention to increasing adoption of these practices.? Our two-stage intervention is comprehensive yet tailored by employer feedback. The intervention a) markets? the """"""""business case"""""""" that employers can help control health-care costs and productivity losses through? adoption of these practices, and b) enables implementation by providing tools for each practice.? In this proposal, our primary aim is to test this intervention in a randomized, controlled trial among 48? medim-sized employers with a high proportion of socioeconomically disadvantaged employees in the Puget? Sound area. Our primary outcome is change in employer practices as measured by survey and validated by? audit and contract and policy review. Our secondary aims include a) development and pilot-testing of an? employee-level behavior survey, b) cost analysis and assessment of feasibility of our intervention, and c)? assessment of employees' preference for different message sources and message appeals.? Our multidisciplinary research team includes Business, Communication, and Public Health faculty and? has more than 10 years of experience in both chronic disease prevention and working with business. If? uccessful, our team's approach of working with a national community partner to market organizational? oractice changes to employers has broad applicability to other public health problems.?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Office of The Director, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (ODCDC)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01CD000249-02
Application #
7502682
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCD1)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2007-09-30
Budget End
2008-09-29
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$868,967
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Type
DUNS #
605799469
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
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Meischke, Hendrika; Ike, Brooke R; Fahrenbruch, Carol et al. (2013) Hypertension identification via emergency responders: a randomized controlled intervention study. Prev Med 57:914-9
Hannon, Peggy A; Harris, Jeffrey R; Sopher, Carrie J et al. (2012) Improving low-wage, midsized employers' health promotion practices: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Prev Med 43:125-33
Meischke, Hendrika; Fahrenbruch, Carol; Ike, Brooke et al. (2012) Feasibility of partnering with emergency medical services to identify people at risk for uncontrolled high blood pressure. Prev Chronic Dis 9:E48
Laing, Sharon S; Hannon, Peggy A; Talburt, Amber et al. (2012) Increasing evidence-based workplace health promotion best practices in small and low-wage companies, Mason County, Washington, 2009. Prev Chronic Dis 9:E83
Harris, Jeffrey R; Cheadle, Allen; Hannon, Peggy A et al. (2012) A framework for disseminating evidence-based health promotion practices. Prev Chronic Dis 9:E22
Huang, Yi; Hannon, Peggy A; Williams, Barbara et al. (2011) Workers' health risk behaviors by state, demographic characteristics, and health insurance status. Prev Chronic Dis 8:A12
Hughes, M Courtney; Yette, Emily M; Hannon, Peggy A et al. (2011) Promoting tobacco cessation via the workplace: opportunities for improvement. Tob Control 20:305-8
Harris, Jeffrey R; Huang, Yi; Hannon, Peggy A et al. (2011) Low-socioeconomic status workers: their health risks and how to reach them. J Occup Environ Med 53:132-8
Diehr, Paula; Hannon, Peggy; Pizacani, Barbara et al. (2011) Social marketing, stages of change, and public health smoking interventions. Health Educ Behav 38:123-31

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