310 Outcomes of a Sleep and Stress-Focused Employee Wellness Program

Introduction The Sleep More, Stress Less Program (SMSL) is a University of Alabama (UA) employee wellness program designed to help participants implement health behavior changes to improve sleep quality and stress management. Workplace wellness programs offer a win-win for the employee and employer through improved health and reduced absenteeism. However, many programs fail to show effectiveness on health and workplace metrics, even with an increase in targeted health behaviors. This may be due—at least in part—to employee self-selection and data collection limitations. The SMSL program addresses these challenges by recruiting employees experiencing sleep and stress issues and using a rigorous assessment approach that records data on behavior changes, process goals, intermediate mechanisms, and health outcomes. We present findings from the SMSL program evaluation conducted Fall 2020. Methods The SMSL program is delivered online with both synchronous and asynchronous content (videos and exercises). The content combines evidence-based interventions for sleep and stress with the science of behavioral motivation. All adult (19–99 years) UA employees were eligible and recruitment occurred through the WellBama website and employee emails. Employees are encouraged to select programs that match their health issues. Participants complete an online pre-program assessment and track their sleep and stress for one week. Next, participants complete the SMSL educational program over the next three weeks. In the fifth week, participants track their sleep and stress and complete the online post-program assessment. Results 60 of the initial 85 participants completed all assessments (70.5%). Participants were primarily Female (79%) and Caucasian (77%) or Black (15%), and aged 24–68 (m=44) years. Moderate improvements were reported in total sleep time, sleep maintenance, and time to return to sleep after awakening. Similar improvements were observed in stress scores. Qualitative evaluation of participant behavior goals revealed a focus on sleep scheduling, stimulus reduction, and relaxation. Conclusion Employee wellness program evaluation is often affected by selection and measurement bias. The SMSL program targeted individuals experiencing stress and/or sleep problems and measured multiple outcomes to identify benefits over the 5-week program. Other wellness programs would benefit from this approach in order to capture true program outcomes. Support (if any) N/A

Pilot Feasibility Study of Incorporating Whole Person Care Health Coaching Into an Employee Wellness Program

Prior research supports positive health coaching outcomes, but there is limited literature on the integration of employer-sponsored health coaching into employee wellness strategy. The aim of our mixed methods study was to assess feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of incorporating a whole-person care model of health coaching into an employee wellness program (i.e., weight loss, smoking cessation) that is made available by an employer-sponsored health plan. For the quantitative study, eligible employees and covered spouses (n = 39) from Loma Linda University Health were recruited into a novel, 12-week, whole person care intervention that combined health coaching and health education and examined outcomes from surveys detailing the participants' experience and biometric data from the intervention and maintenance periods. For the qualitative study, data were collected through key informant interviews from three health coaches and six intervention participants who were recruited via random sampling. Health coaching was well-received by the participants, and led to a slight albeit positive behavioral change for obesity. A significant decrease in body mass index occurred over 12 weeks of intervention (−0.36 kg/m2, p = 0.016), that did not continue during the maintenance phase (−0.17 kg/m2, p = 0.218). Qualitative findings indicated improved personal health awareness, accountability, motivation, and self-efficacy along with goal setting and barrier overcoming skills among the key themes. Our pilot study findings identify positive behavior change effects of an employee health intervention based on a whole person care model of health coaching with integrated health education, and also identify the need for methods to maintain behavior change (i.e., mHealth, peer-support) post-intervention. Further investigation in randomized controlled trials is the next step in this research.

Assessment of Implementation of Occupational Infection Prevention of The Employee Wellness Program among a Group Of Healthcare Workers in Pediatrics Hospital of Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Background Healthcare workers (HCWs) are exposed every day to multiple occupational hazards, the most common being the risk of exposure to occupational infections. Occupational infection prevention of the healthcare workers is a substantial issue not only to protect them, but also to protect their patients. If the risk posed by infection in health care workers is not recognized and addressed, there is the potential for large outbreaks of infection among staff and patients. Aim of Study Assessment of implementation of occupational infection prevention of the employee wellness program among healthcare workers in pediatrics hospital of Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Subjects and Methods A descriptive study was conducted and a structured self-administered aided questionnaire was used to collect data from 110 healthcare workers in the pediatrics hospital at Ain Shams University in Cairo to assess the pre-employment procedures, investigations, infection control training provided by the hospital and post exposure management procedure. Results Around half of the participants (48.2%) reported that they had undergone the pre-employment screening procedures. The majority of participants (85.4%) received infection control training at the hospital. Most of the participants didn’t receive the appropriate management after needle stick injury. Conclusion and Recommendations the current system followed in the Pediatrics hospital does not adequately implement all of the essential elements of the employee wellness program and needs to be improved. Co-ordination between the occupational health unit and infection control department should be done to improve the implementation of other elements of the employee wellness program to protect healthcare workers from occupational infections.

Community Pharmacist-Provided Wellness and Monitoring Services in an Employee Wellness Program: A Four-Year Summary

Objective: To assess the clinical outcomes of participants of an employee wellness program during four years of service implementation. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted at 15 independent community pharmacy chain locations in northwest and central Missouri. A total of 200 participants were enrolled in an employee wellness program, and the program included five monitoring groups—cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, weight, and healthy participant groups. Participants selected a pharmacist wellness coordinator and wellness appointments were conducted, consisting of education, goal-setting, and monitoring through physical assessment and point of care testing. The primary outcome measures were total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting blood glucose (FBG), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC). The secondary outcome measures were the proportion of patients who achieved the clinical value goals at baseline versus 48 months. The primary outcome measures among data collection time points were compared using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests, and the secondary outcomes were compared between baseline and 48 months by Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests. One-way ANOVA post hoc tests were also performed using least significant difference, to further identify which time points differed from each other. Results: At baseline, there were 134 patients in the cholesterol monitoring group, 129 in the weight monitoring group, 117 in the blood pressure monitoring group, 46 in the blood glucose monitoring group, and 26 in the healthy participant monitoring group. For patients in the blood pressure monitoring group, compared with baseline, there was a significant decrease in DBP at months 12, 24, 36, and 48, and a significant increase in the proportion of patients achieving blood pressure goals at 48 months. For patients in the blood glucose monitoring group, compared with baseline, there was a significant decrease in FBG at months 12, 24, 36, and 48, and a significant increase in the proportion of patients achieving blood glucose goals at 48 months. Conclusions: Pharmacist-led wellness visits provided to employee wellness patients in a community pharmacy may lead to improvements in BP and FBG values.