Health Promotion for Small Workplaces: A Community-Based Participatory Research Partnership.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Health Promotion
• Community-Based Research

Background:

• Small U.S. worksites, often employing low-wage workers, have limited access to health promotion programs.
• Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is crucial for engaging employers in identifying workplace health needs.
• This study details a CBPR process to tailor a health promotion program for a small, low-wage worksite.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a four-phased CBPR process for developing a workplace health promotion program.
• To tailor a program to the specific needs of a small worksite with low-wage employees.
• To measure and report the outcomes of the tailored program over time.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a CBPR approach grounded in the Social Ecological Model and other health promotion models.
• Employed publicly available, evidence-based tools for program assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
• Focused on key strategies for developing comprehensive workplace health promotion.

Main Results:

• The worksite demonstrated improved capacity for employee health promotion.
• Sustainable improvements were observed in health interventions and organizational support structures.
• The tailored program positively impacted the health promotion landscape within the workplace.

Conclusions:

• A CBPR approach can build the capacity of small worksites with low-wage employees to address workforce health needs.
• Integrating publicly available strategies and tools that consider social ecological determinants of health is vital.
• CBPR offers a viable model for enhancing health promotion in underserved work environments.