Exploration Into the Business Priorities Related to Corporate Engagement in Community Health Improvement Partnerships.

Objective: To explore factors that matter to business in making decisions regarding engagement in community health improvement efforts.

Methods: Using qualitative methods, domains of interest were identified through literature reviews and expert interviews. Relevance of the domains in terms of potential priorities for action was tested through employer and community stakeholder interviews.

Integrating health and safety in the workplace: how closely aligning health and safety strategies can yield measurable benefits.

Objective: To better understand how integrating health and safety strategies in the workplace has evolved and establish a replicable, scalable framework for advancing the concept with a system of health and safety metrics, modeled after the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Methods: Seven leading national and international programs aimed at creating a culture of health and safety in the workplace were compared and contrasted.

Results: A list of forty variables was selected, making it clear there is a wide variety of approaches to integration of health and safety in the workplace.

Workplace wellness recognition for optimizing workplace health: a presidential advisory from the American Heart Association.

The workplace is an important setting for promoting cardiovascular health and cardiovascular disease and stroke prevention in the United States. Well-designed, comprehensive workplace wellness programs have the potential to improve cardiovascular health and to reduce mortality, morbidity, and disability resulting from cardiovascular disease and stroke. Nevertheless, widespread implementation of comprehensive workplace wellness programs is lacking, and program composition and quality vary.

Corporate America and community health: exploring the business case for investment.

Objectives: The principal aim of this project was to learn from corporate executives about the most important components of a business case for employer leadership in improving community health.

Methods: We used dialogue sessions to gain insight into this issue.

Results: The strongest elements included metrics and measurement, return on investment, communications, shared values, shared vision, shared definitions, and leadership.

Do workplace health promotion (wellness) programs work?

Objective: To respond to the question, "Do workplace health promotion programs work?"

Methods: A compilation of the evidence on workplace programs' effectiveness coupled with recommendations for critical review of outcome studies. Also, reviewed are recent studies questioning the value of workplace programs.

Results: Evidence accumulated over the past three decades shows that well-designed and well-executed programs that are founded on evidence-based principles can achieve positive health and financial outcomes.

Mindfulness goes to work: impact of an online workplace intervention.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether a mindfulness program, created for the workplace, was both practical and efficacious in decreasing employee stress while enhancing resiliency and well-being.

Methods: Participants (89) recruited from The Dow Chemical Company were selected and randomly assigned to an online mindfulness intervention (n = 44) or wait-list control (n = 45). Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Connor-Davidson Resiliency Scale, and the Shirom Vigor Scale at pre- and postintervention and 6-month follow-up.

Second-year results of an obesity prevention program at the Dow Chemical Company.

Objective: Evaluate innovative, evidence-based approaches to organizational/supportive environmental interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence of obesity among Dow employees after 2 years of implementation.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study design compared outcomes for two levels of intervention intensity with a control group. Propensity scores were used to weight baseline differences between intervention and control subjects.

First-year results of an obesity prevention program at The Dow Chemical Company.

Objective: To examine first-year results from a workplace environmental obesity prevention program at The Dow Chemical Company.

Methods: A quasi-experimental cohort study was conducted among employees at nine treatment worksites (n = 8013) who received environmental weight management interventions and three control worksites (n = 2269). Changes in employees' weight, body mass index (BMI), and other health risks were examined using chi2 and t-tests.

Using formative research to develop environmental and ecological interventions to address overweight and obesity.

Objective: This paper presents the formative research phase of a large multi-site intervention study conducted to inform the feasibility of introducing environmental and ecological interventions.

Research Methods And Procedures: Using mixed methods that included an environmental assessment, climate survey, leadership focus groups and interviews, and archival data, information was collected on employee health and job factors, the physical environment, social-organizational environment, and current health programs.

Results: Results show that 83% of employees at the study sites were overweight or obese.

Mortality study update of acrylamide workers.

Objective: The authors examined the long-term health effects of occupational exposure to acrylamide among production and polymerisation workers.

Methods: An earlier study of 371 acrylamide workers was expanded to include employees hired since 1979. In this updated study, 696 acrylamide workers were followed from 1955 through 2001 to ascertain vital status and cause of death.

How to present the business case for healthcare quality to employers.

Many employers in the US are investing in new programmes to improve the quality of medical care and simultaneously shifting more of the healthcare costs to their employees without understanding the implications on the amount and type of care their employees will receive. These seemingly contradictory actions reflect an inability by employers to accurately assess how their health benefit decisions affect their profits. This paper proposes a practical method that employers can use to determine how much they should invest in the health of their workers and to identify the best benefit designs to encourage appropriate healthcare delivery and use.

Estimating the return-on-investment from changes in employee health risks on the Dow Chemical Company's health care costs.

Objective: We sought to estimate the impact of corporate health-management and risk-reduction programs for The Dow Chemical Company by using a prospective return-on-investment (ROI) model.

Methods: The risk and expenditure estimates were derived from multiple regression analyses showing relationships between worker demographics, health risks, and medical expenditures.

Results: A "break-even" scenario would require Dow to reduce each of 10 population health risks by 0.

The assessment of chronic health conditions on work performance, absence, and total economic impact for employers.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and estimate total costs for chronic health conditions in the U.S. workforce for the Dow Chemical Company (Dow).

Creating a new structure for research on health care effectiveness.

Effectiveness research (a term we use in preference to the more confining and difficult health services or outcomes research) evaluates the clinical setting and the health care system on which it depends. It uses a variety of health care assessment techniques and the practical clinical trial to inform clinical practice, quality interventions, and health policy decisions. Effectiveness research had not had sufficient public or private funding to produce the information needed to facilitate evidence-based health care improvement.

Reliability and validity of the Stanford Presenteeism Scale.

Objective: This study reports the reliability and validity of the 13-item Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS). The SPS differs from similar scales by focusing on knowledge-based and production-based workers.

Methods: Data were obtained from administrative and medical claims databases and from a survey that incorporated the SPS, SF-36, and the Work Limitations Questionnaire.

Communication of epidemiology study results by industry: the Dow Chemical Company approach.

Communicating epidemiology study results to subjects, affected workers, and community members is an important part of compliance and alignment with our company's policies, industry's Responsible Care Principles, and the doctrines of Good Epidemiology Practices. It is the responsibility of the investigators to interpret their research appropriately for each audience, and to assure that all who have a need or right to know get information in a form meaningful to them. We discuss study communication with examples from a recent evaluation of communication efforts within Dow and our experience with occupational and community studies on dioxin.

Health-related workplace productivity measurement: general and migraine-specific recommendations from the ACOEM Expert Panel.

An establishment of health-related productivity measurements and critical evaluation of health-related productivity tools is needed. An expert panel was created. A literature search was conducted to identify health-related productivity measurement tools.