Question

“Keeping our employees healthy is not only the right thing to do, it is good for the bottom line.” With this directive from the chief executive officer, Marie DeSantis, the staff in the Office of Human Resources at Jefferson Pharmaceuticals developed a “Let’s Get Healthy” initiative for its 500 employees. Weight Watchers, a smoking cessation program, and yoga classes were brought on site and offered free of charge to all employees. Nicotine patches were offered at 50% of cost and gym memberships were provided at a significant reduction in price. The cafeteria began offering healthy, low-calorie meals and a walking club was started to support staff who chose to exercise before and after work or during lunch hours. Staff who were willing to submit an individual health plan and agreed to participate in one or more of the company’s available health programs were offered a 10% discount in their health premiums.

One year after the start of Let’s Get Healthy, the initiative is in trouble. Although initially met with a great deal of enthusiasm, staff compliance has declined. Attendance at Weight Watchers and smoking cessation classes is episodic and yoga classes were canceled because of lack of interest. Anecdotal information suggests that although the company has renewed gym memberships for about 20% of the staff, few are actually using them on a regular basis. Convinced that Let’s Get Healthy is a good idea, the company has hired a health educator to evaluate the program and make recommendations for improvement.

1.

Using one of the identified models and theories of compliance (health belief model, self-efficacy theory, protection motivation theory, stages of change model, theory of reasoned action, or therapeutic alliance model), provide a possible explanation for why the staff members at Jefferson Pharmaceuticals are not participating in the Let’s Get Healthy campaign.

2.

What motivational strategies did the human resources staff use in Let’s Get Healthy? Why do you think these strategies did not work?

3.

Do you think that if a health education campaign was offered in conjunction with the Let’s Get Healthy program, the results would have been different?

Answer 1

1.Staff members not participated in the health campaign the reason for this is well explained by the self-efficacy theory.Individuals with high self efficacy continue to perform the healthy behaviour over the period of time.But people with low self efficacy will perform the healthy behaviour only for the short period then finds difficult to maintain.Humans need more motivation to maintain the level of self efficacy.

2.Finding a community is the motivational strategy used in the let's get healthy.This strategy did not work because group of individuals forms a community.Hence behaviour of others influence other individual behaviour.If suppose the community is not having healthy ideas then it automatically affects the all individuals in the group.So once one staff member have a negative idea in the campaign thus it automatically affects the other staff thus they continue to leave the campaign.

3.Yes,people always seek motivation from outside.So if the health education is offered definitely it influence the individual thus they continue to work on the campaign.