A health promotion programme for oil refinery employees: changes of health promotion needs observed at three years

Abstract

The main aim of this three-year follow-up study was to evaluate the long-term effects of a workplace health promotion intervention programme offered by the Neste Oyj corporation's occupational health service. Another aim was to study factors associated with changes in health promotion needs. These were assessed using information obtained by means of questionnaires and laboratory measurements. The target areas assessed were physical activity, musculoskeletal problems, dietary habits, obesity, blood pressure, serum lipids, smoking, quality of sleep and mental well-being. Participants from one oil refinery were offered special health promotion counselling, while those from the other oil refinery studied received only their personal results, written information and instructions. Evaluation of the changes in needs was mainly based on comparison of the results of two examinations performed with an interval of three years. Effects of special health promotion counselling were observed in the target area of physical activity. Elimination of certain health promotion needs was seen in both groups in all of the target areas. The most extensive changes were seen in the target areas of musculoskeletal symptoms, dietary habits, blood pressure and mental well-being. Basic education, occupational status and age-group, as well as the value of tending health were frequent variables explaining the reduction in the need for health promotion activities. Worker participation in health promotion counselling activities provided by occupational health services can be high, as in this study in which the participation rate was 90% and the drop-out rate during the three years only 10%.

Promoting Physical Activity and Healthy Dietary Behavior

“…independently evaluated the methodological quality of the studies by using an existing checklist ( Table 2). [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Concerning the methodological quality assessment, the authors (L.K. 12 The checklist contains 12 criteria for internal validity that are related to selection bias (2 items), performance bias (3 items), attrition bias (2 items), and detection bias (5 items).…”

“…23,26 Eight of the 14 studies conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT), [14][15][16][17]19,21,22,25 4 a controlled trial, 18,20,23,26 and 2 noncontrolled studies. Control conditions varied greatly between studies and included no intervention, 14 usual care, which often included minimal interventions, 15,16,18,20,22 and untailored e-mails. [15][16][17]19,21,22,25 One RCT 14 and three of the four controlled trials 20,23,26 were graded as fair-quality studies.…”

Worksite Physical Activity Interventions and Obesity: A Review of European Studies (the HOPE Project)

“…Studies originated from 10 European countries: UK [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] (n = 11 studies, 33%), Finland [27][28][29][30][31][32][33] (n = 6, 18%), Belgium [34][35][36], Norway [37][38][39] and Switzerland [40][41][42] (n = 3 each, 9%), the Netherlands [43,44] and Sweden [45,46] (n = 2 each, 6%), Germany [47], Spain [48] and Denmark [49] (n = 1 each, 3%). To better describe the types of interventions, six categories were used: 1) coun selling (n = 5, 15%) [27,33,35,39,40]; 2) exercise training (n = 13, 39%) with 10 aerobic fitness and muscular training [18,21,26,29,30,32,37,[45][46]…”

Lack of sleep in the workplace: What the psychologist-manager should know about sleep.

“…Typically, these health promotion programs include interventions and programs designed to reduce stress, increase physical activity and fitness, reduce high blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce excess body weight, improve nutrition, and reduce tobacco, alcohol, and substance use (Talvi, Järvisalo, & Knuts, 1999). However, few of the programs offer interventions to identify, assess, and monitor individuals with sleep disorders or fatigue-related issues.…”