Interactive Health Communication and Work Site Health Promotion

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Interactive Health Communication and Work Site
Health Promotion

• Robin G. Molella, MD, Candace K. Kolars, PhD,
  MPH, Neil R. Sullivan, MPH, and Philip T. Hagen,
  MD

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• There has been significant interest on the part
  of employers in using the Internet as a tool for
  promoting employee health. This interest has been
  fueled by the realization that improved employee
  health correlates with both increased worker
  productivity and decreased health care
  expenditures.

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• A health promotion web site has been designed to
  improve the health status of employees. It
  includes health information, a health risk
  assessment, self-care information and modules
  focused on healthy behaviors and disease
  management. The site is based on behavioral
  theory and uses tailored e-mail messages to
  motivate and re-engage site users in the behavior
  change process. Additional messages address
  barriers to behavior change.

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• Over the course of 2 years the site has been
  available to employees of a number of large
  corporations. Usage trends were followed by
  collection of data from the Internet site. The
  results were reviewed and adjusted for issues
  such as double registration. Forty-three percent
  of the registrants were female. The average age
  was 42.6 years.

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• Comment In the above data, men are well
  represented and often outnumber women. This is
  somewhat at odds with data presented by the Pew
  Internet and American Life Project which reports
  women seek Internet information more commonly
  than men. If this observed difference is true
  and not merely related to denominator issues,
  then the question is why. Are men more likely to
  seek health promotion information in the work
  place? Can we utilize work place interventions
  to encourage use of Internet health promotion
  programming?

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Peak Usage 8am-6pm CST (usage starts at 7am and
is high until 8pm reflecting the other time
zones) Average session length 12.5
minutes Average page-views/session 12 Note
Session length is timed from the first page
viewed to the last page viewed and so
underestimates the amount of time spent on the
site.
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• The health risk appraisal was completed by 26
  percent of registered users revealing that 15
  percent were at high risk. The most popular areas
  of the site are exercise, healthy weight,
  self-care, nutrition and depression.

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Web Research Challenges

• While web site databases collect profuse amounts
  of data, finding meaningful data from site usage
  logs is not always simple.
• Things such as multiple registrations by the same
  user may contaminate data.

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Web Research Challenges

• Site logs and data points are created as a result
  of the conveniences of engineering unless
  researchers and developers give specific guidance
  at the time of design. Data obtained after the
  fact may not provide answers to key questions.

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Web Research Challenges

• A body of research regarding usability,
  accessibility, graphic design and program design
  needs to be compiled as part of efficacy and
  outcomes research.

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Web Research Challenges

• Site usage data gives important hints to how
  individuals are using web based health promotion
  information but fails to answer important
  questions regarding those who do not use the
  programs who might be at highest risk of the
  conditions we seek to prevent.
• In addition site usage data does not answer
  questions regarding usability issues which might
  have caused individuals to leave the site or fail
  to return.

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Web Research Challenges

• Future research in Web based health promotion,
  in addition to focusing on outcomes, needs to
  focus on how to integrate Web based programs into
  the existing health promotion infrastructure. How
  can these programs be used to complement more
  traditional interventions?

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Conclusions

• Individuals regardless of age and gender are
  willing to seek out health promotion information
  on the Internet. Studies are needed to define the
  web designs, which maximize program participation
  and behavior change. Research goals should be
  incorporated at the time of web design to
  facilitate further investigation of these issues

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• Robin G. Molella, MD1, Candace K. Kolars, PhD,
  MPH2, Neil R. Sullivan, MPH3, and Philip T.
  Hagen, MD1
• (1) Preventive and Occupational Medicine, Mayo
  Clinic, 200 1st St. SW, Rochester, MN 55905,
  284-2560, molella.robin_at_mayo.edu, (2) Mayo
  Foundation, Mayo Medical Ventures, 200 1st St.
  SW, Rochester, MN 55905, (3) Mayo Clinic Health
  Management Resources, Mayo Clinic, 200 1st Street
  SW, Rochester, MN 55905