Evaluating Your Workplace Health Programmes

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Evaluating Your Workplace Health Programmes
Dr Chng Shih Kiat Deputy Medical Director Raffles
Medical Group
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The Programme Planning Cycle in WHP
Needs Assessment
Select Interventions
Evaluate
Programme Plan
Market Implement
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Why Evaluate?

• Understand what works and what doesnt
• Justify worth of programme
• Improve programme performance
• Reduce wastage
• Contribute to body of evidence
• Refocusing direction of the Workplace Health
  Programmes

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What to Evaluate?

• 2 main evaluations
• Quantitative improvement of data
• Qualitative assessment of interventions

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What to Compare with?

• Setting standards
• Previous data of the company
• Industry standards
• National standards
• Ideal standards

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Previous Data

• Data from needs assessment
• Company health screening results, lifestyle
  survey results
• Eg percentage of people who have high
  cholesterol, percentage of people who do exercise
  3 times a week for 30 minutes
• To evaluate after intervention, need to repeat
  assessment and compare

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Industry Standards

• Compare your set of data with what can be
  obtained from companies in the same industry
• Have to ensure almost similar staff demographic
• Difficult to administer due to confidentiality
  issues

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National Standards

• National Health Survey results published by
  Ministry of Health
• NHS 2007 results will be out this year
• Comparing data with NHS results
• Understanding of where the company stand in the
  big picture of Singapore

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Ideal Standards

• Does being consistent with NHS results, means
  that you are OK?
• Some issues should have an ideal standard
• Eg Smoking rate should be zero
• Exercise rate should be based on 5 times a
  week for 30 minutes each occasion
• Have to be realistic and evidence based
• Eg Having no staff with high cholesterol is not
  realistic

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Important Data to Evaluate

• Individual
• Health related
• Health promotion related (lifestyle modification)
• Psychological health related
• Facility

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Health Related

• Disease risk factors
• Cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Important as lowering will lead to less health
  care cost (Primary Prevention)
• Evaluate whether intervention leads to decrease
  disease risk factors

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Leading Causes of Death in Singapore
Cancer Ischaemic Heart Disease Pneumonia
Stroke Other Heart Diseases
19.2
14.5
9.7
5.6
Ministry of Health Annual Report 2004
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Health Promotion Related

• Focus on lifestyle and behaviour modification
• Percentage of staff who
• Exercise regularly
• Eat 2 or more servings of fruits and vegetables a
  day
• Dont smoke
• Trim fat from meat before eating etc
• Evaluate whether intervention is able to change
  mindsets and behaviours

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Health Promotion Related

• Other than evaluating percentages can also
  evaluate function improvements
• Eg Conduct fitness testing to assess function
• Can also evaluate improvements in health
  promotion knowledge of staff

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Psychological Health Related

• STRESS levels
• Evaluate company culture, work life balance,
  staff morale etc

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Facility Evaluation

• Is there a change in food provided by the
  canteen?
• Has there been more water coolers?
• Healthier items in snack dispensing machines?
• Implementing designated smoking areas?
• Evaluate management support and you as a sales
  person

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Qualitative Evaluation of Interventions

• Evaluate your marketing skills, perception of
  your intervention by your targeted participants
• Eg
• Participation rate
• Satisfaction of participants
• Drop out rate etc
• Provide immediate directions as to where you may
  have gone wrong
• Poor marketing, planning and organisation
• Poor matching with staff expectation
• Knowledge gap about importance of intervention

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Stakeholder Interest

• The BIG picture
• Reduced health care cost
• Reduced staff turnover and manpower cost
• Improving staff morale and productivity
• Work with HR to generate data from year to year
• Evaluating your WHP goal in the long run

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Food for Thought
Protect your health. Without it you face a
serious handicap for success and happiness. -
Harry F. Banks
So many people spend their health gaining wealth,
and then have to spend their wealth to regain
their health.  A.J. Reb Materi, Our Family