| 1.30pm-2.00pm |
Wellness in the Workplace: The Blue Care Staff Wellness Case Study
Roxanne Machen, Blue Care Staff Wellness Program CQUniversity Australia
Workplace wellness promotion programs are continuing to gain acceptance as a valuable contributor to workplace productivity. However, many workplace wellness programs focus on potentially negative health risk outcomes, as opposed to holistic wellness. Ultimately, they fail to address the wellness needs of employees, and inherently lack the programming to promote wellness as an outcome measure of workplace wellness programming.
The Blue Care Staff Wellness program represents a novel approach to the delivery of workplace wellness, through the promotion and measurement of wellness and health culture within the workplace, the provision of employee led wellness activities, and the inclusion of volunteer staff wellness ambassadors. Piloted over one year across Central Queensland and Fraser Coast Blue Care services in Queensland, Australia, this program successfully increased individual staff wellness scores (12%, p<0.001), wellness satisfaction scores (19%, p<0.001) and organisational health culture (0.6 score point increase, p<0.01) for the sample population, suggesting the potential for a workplace wellness promotion model such as this to increase employee wellness.
No research to date has documented the dissemination and evaluation of a workplace wellness program across such a broad geographical region within an Australian health care provider population. Moreover, no published research to date has documented the delivery of such a program with the measurement and promotion of wellness as an individual construct. The program outcomes support the use of wellness and health culture as plausible constructs within workplace wellness promotion frameworks, and suggest a pilot framework by which to expand these measures.
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13.30pm-2:00pm |
ANPHA - an opportunity for new partnerships and settingsfor preventive health
Dr Lisa Studdert , Manager Policy & Programs, Australian National Preventive Health Agency
Promoting a Healthy Australia is the new name for the Australian National Preventive Health Agency. In the 18 months since its establishment, the Agency has sought to forge new directions and leadership in the development and implementation of evidence-based approaches to preventive health initiatives targeting obesity, harmful alcohol consumption and tobacco. Collaborative approaches with a range of stakeholders, including governments throughout Australia, non-government organisations, academia and industry, are integral to the work ANPHA is doing. From social marketing campaigns targeting tobacco use and obesity, to implementation of the National Binge Drinking Strategy and workplace smoking cessation programs, the Agency is working to support comprehensive efforts that address preventable chronic disease risk. The presentation will update the audience on our work of the past year and highlight the resources and innovations focused on workplace settings.
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| 2.00pm-2.30pm |
Perfecting Program Design in an Imperfect World
Greg McLoughlin, Managing Director, Health by Design
Implementing a successful, cost effective program across multiple worksites of traditionally resistive employees: Is it possible? You bet! The key elements of best practice programming theory don’t work as check box items, they need to be molded and applied to each unique work group. Cost effectiveness across multiple locations becomes a balance between personal and impersonal contact. Impersonal contact is cheap, but less effective. Personal contact is more effective, but requires more resources. A combination of smart contact and content design can help make the impersonal contact seem more personal and strike the balance needed to successfully accomplish this daunting challenge. Learn in this session about adapting the most important elements of HAPIA’s best practice guidelines for an ambitious program of engaging and changing some tough Aussie blokes. Six months, 8 different pilot locations, one united program. The result? A 5% population shift from high health risk to low health risk in just 6 months. In the real world, program design that fits both best practice guidelines and your workforce needs is not always obvious, but balance and success is achievable.
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2.00pm-2.30pm |
Nature, Prevalence, Cost Impact & Management of COPD
Christine Jenkins, AM, MD, FRACP, Clinical Professor, University of Sydney, Thoracic
Physician, Concord Hospital, Head, Respiratory Trials, The George Institute for Global Health, Head, Education, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research
COPD is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia, and is increasing in prevalence and burden, particularly in middle age to older adults. COPD is the second leading cause of avoidable hospital admissions in Australia, and is the leading cause of death and disease burden after heart disease, stroke and cancer. An accurate diagnosis and assessment of severity is crucial, as obesity and physical inactivity causing breathlessness and poor exercise tolerance are also increasing in the Australian population. Patient assessment and management should be multidimensional, addressing the
physical, social and psychological aspects of the disease. Most patients present having lost around 50% of
their lung function over the preceding decades of their adult life, almost always due to smoking, although
many patients are now ex-smokers. COPD management entails maximising exercise capacity and social functioning, and minimising exacerbations, infections and the adverse systemic effects of the disease. Many
patients with COPD have serious comorbidities, particularly cardiovascular disease which complicates
their management and interacts with COPD adversely. This talk will address the optimal assessment and
management of COPD in the Australian context.
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| 2.30pm-3.00pm |
Coffee break & visit expo
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2.30pm-3.00pm |
Coffee break & visit expo
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| 3.00pm-3:30pm |
Bridging Workplace Health Promotion Theory to Practice:
a Community Health Perspective to a Settings Based Approach
Desiree Terrill, EACH Social & Community Health
The workplace settings approach to health promotion is a significant redesign of the
traditional approach to preventative health. EACH Community Health Service has developed an innovative partnership with blue collar industry to improve the health and wellbeing of employees.The partnership involves engagement, capacity building, and collaboration with
targeted businesses in high needs areas to improve health and reduce inequalities. Evidence based research supports a multipronged methodology to increase workforce participation in employee health and wellbeing programs and ultimately improve wellbeing, and productivity. This methodology drives not only behavioural change for employees, but also focuses on an integrated systems approach by supporting the physical, social and organisational environment. Learning’s from this innovative
application will assist businesses in identifying the key steps to enhance the design and delivery of tailored interventions in the workplace. Key strategies to enhance employee health includes mental
health and wellbeing awareness, increasing the incidence of physical activity in the workforce, improving the consumption of nutritious food,and increasing the cessation of smoking in the workplace.
The ongoing challenges of program evaluation and tips to obtain successful program outcomes will also be explored in the presentation. A non-traditional partnership between industry and Community
Health is an area that should be considered by businesses if they seek support to achieve best practice in workplace health promotion.
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3.00pm-
3:30pm |
Optimizing Engagement of Your Workforce in Improving Their Health – Lessons Learnt at the Coalface
Dr John Cummins, Specialist Consultant Physician, Executive Medicine
Duncan Hunter, Accredited Practising Dietitian, Nutrition Experts Pty Ltd
Having seen thousands of businessmen and women over the years, there is a wealth of wisdom learnt in maximising engagement. John will discuss using case studies what does work, such as the power of the relationship between employee and health practitioner, how to use language effectively to raise motivation using evidence based tools and data example, reinforce the
importance of leadership by example (at the CEO level and also the health practitioner level) in enhancing
engagement, as well as other tools and methods found by experience to be highly useful. John will also discuss strategies that DON’T work based upon his experiences. He will use case studies and theoretical
frameworks to frame the presentation.Boral’s internationally acclaimed BWell Program that won the IHPM award in 2007, has gained new momentum despite major company re-structures following difficult GFC times. With a new CEO on board, BWell quickly re-gained support from top level by reviewing its contribution to the bottom line. The successful follow-up of over 100 critical events illustrates the importance of the program.
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