Frequency of worksite health promotion activities

Abstract

The first National Survey of Worksite Health Promotion Activities surveyed a random sample of all private sector worksites with 50 or more employees, stratified by number of employers, geographic location, and type of industry. The 1,358 completed interviews constituted a response rate of 83.1 per cent. Of responding worksites 65.5 per cent had one or more areas of health promotion activity with slightly more than 50 per cent of activities initiated within the previous five years. Overall prevalence by type of activity included health risk assessment (29.5 per cent), smoking cessation (35.6 per cent), blood pressure control and treatment (16.5 per cent), exercise/fitness (22.1 per cent), weight control (14.7 per cent), nutrition education (16.8 per cent), stress management (26.6 per cent), back problem prevention and care (28.5 per cent), and off-the-job accident prevention (19.8 per cent). Mean number of activities across all worksites was 2.1 and for worksites with activities, 3.2. Activity frequency increased with worksite size, was highest in the western region (2.34) and lowest in the northeast (1.96), and varied considerably by industry type. The majority of worksites paid the entire cost of these activities.