Cost Effective Health Promotion Intervention for Older Workers

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The nation's workforce is aging, and the highest growth rate will be among persons aged 55 to 64 years old, with a projected 51% increase in labor force participation from 2002 to 2012. Given that older workers incur higher health care costs, the corporate sector has a strong incentive to develop successful risk reduction interventions that have the potential to both reduce older workers health care costs as well as enhance their productivity (USGAO, 2001). This Phase 1 SBIR application will establish the feasibility, acceptability, and short term effectiveness of a unique risk reduction intervention that integrates strategies for wellness, employee assistance, and work life, in order to best address the full spectrum of health and social needs of older workers, aged 55 to 64 years old. Specific study aims are to: 1) Modify Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) and tailored feedback for older workers aged 55-64 years old; 2) Implement the integrated risk reduction intervention in a randomized controlled trial at two worksites; 3) Evaluate the program using the RE-AIM conceptual model; and, 4) Develop and submit Phase II application, based on the Phase I evaluation results. Environment and Health Group is collaborating with Workplace Options (WPO), the world's largest provider of work-life employee benefits and ConvergenceHealth, an application software provider that currently delivers HRAs to 11 million health plan subscribers. Environment and Health and WPO will work with ConvergenceHealth to modify WPO's current Advantage Web HRA, along with its individualized report software and self-management software, specifically for individuals aged 55 to 64 years old. The integrated risk reduction intervention will be implemented in two worksites, with Workplace Options providing wellness coaching, employee assistance, and work-life services. Program evaluation will focus on program reach (including representativeness of participants and acceptability of program by participants); implementation fidelity; short-term effectiveness of the program in reducing behavioral risks; and, maintenance, specifically whether participants are retained in the program over the two month intervention period. The data obtained for the comparisons of behavioral change across treatment and control groups will be used to predict sample size for the Phase 2 application. Initial projections of intervention delivery costs will be obtained for a robust cost effectiveness analysis for the Phase 2 application. The product resulting from the Phase 1 study, and the subsequent Phase 2 application, will be an innovative new product that has the potential to be marketed to literally thousands of companies in the United States and abroad. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The purpose of this project is to develop a cost-effective worksite based health promotion/risk reduction program for older workers aged 55-64.