142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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304871
Workplace Wellness in Oklahoma: Using an Evaluation Tool to Improve Programs, Policies, and Partnerships for the State

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Tahra Johnson, MPH, CWWS , Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, ASTHO, Arlington, VA
John Friedl, MS , Center for Advancement and Wellness, Oklahoma Department of Health, Oklahoma City, OK
Background:  Five states joined the ASTHO-UHF Learning Collaborative to be a part of a quality improvement (QI) initiative designed to improve health outcomes in their state.  The long-term goal was to improve their state health ranking. The Oklahoma Department of Health (ODH) chose to decrease their rates of obesity and diabetes in order to improve their overall state health ranking.  They chose to evaluate the wellness opportunities at state agencies and the consumers that they reach.

Objective:  The purpose of the evaluation with ODH was to use a QI process to identify areas for improvement as well as identify areas that they are implementing evidence-based and interventions. It was an opportunity to compare the infrastructure, capacity, policies, and programs within the agency.

Methods: ODH worked with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the Department of Tourism and Recreation to evaluate their programs and policies with an evaluation tool and to provide technical assistance. 

Results: ODH found that they could identify the gaps and areas of success in the programmatic and policy areas through the evaluation but had a difficult time assessing the health outcomes data.  By working with the state health official and the governor’s office, they were able to find a process that could share the health outcomes data. 

Discussion/Conclusions: This process engaged the state health agency in not only workplace wellness programs and policy but the health insurance purchasing for state health agencies.  This QI initiative created a large scale systematic change for the agency.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Chronic disease management and prevention
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Occupational health and safety
Program planning
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the use of a comprehensive evaluation on workplace wellness can lead to a quality improvement process which will improve health outcomes. Identify procedures that can be improved to streamline data and information related to employee health outcomes. Describe the importance of the role of leadership in a statewide initiative. Describe the benefits and impact of a multi-state learning collaborative on improving workplace wellness for state employees.

Keyword(s): Workplace, System Involvement

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I manage Oklahoma's agency The Center for the Advancement of Wellness with strong expertise in physical activity and nutrition. I also lead the work in the ASTHO-UHF multi-state collaborative around improving health outcomes through workplace wellness programs, policies, and partnerships.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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