A Win Win Opportunity? A Model Health and Wellness Coaching Program to Support Employee Health and Student Experience

Area of Science:

• Health and Wellness Coaching
• Behavioral Science
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Board exam eligibility for health and wellness coaches (HWC) requires 50 practice sessions.
• Students often face challenges in accumulating sufficient supervised coaching experience.
• Integrating student coaching into employee health programs offers a potential solution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a supervised practicum model for health and wellness coaching students.
• To evaluate the model's effectiveness in meeting practice session requirements.
• To assess the model's impact on employee health and program satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods observational study design was employed.
• The Employee Coaching Connection (ECC) program involved 22 students, 6 faculty, and 50 employees over 12 weeks.
• Data were collected via surveys from students, faculty, and employees.

Main Results:

• Students averaged 5.6 group and 14.9 individual coaching sessions.
• Student confidence in coaching increased significantly (17.27% for individual, 22.38% for group).
• 70% of employees found the program very beneficial, and 88% would recommend it.

Conclusions:

• The supervised practicum model successfully provided students with clinical experience.
• The program positively impacted employee health goals and satisfaction.
• Further research on efficacy and cost-effectiveness is warranted.