Online weight intervention helps maintain long-term weight loss
Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. Baicker K, Cutler D, Song Z. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010; 29(2): 104-112.
Associations of internet website use with weight change in a long-term weight loss maintenance program. Funk KL, Stevens VJ, Appel LJ, Bauck A, Brantley PJ, Champagne CM, Coughlin J, Dalcin AT, Harvey-Berino J, Hollis JF, Jerome GJ, Kennedy BM, Lien LF, Myers VH, Samuel-Hodge C, Svetkey LP, Vollmer WM. J Med Internet Res. 2010; 12(3): e29.
Aim To assess if workplace wellness programmes are cost effective and provide good ROI. Looked at Thirty-six studies of employee wellness programmes published in English language peer-reviewed journals. How? An in depth and systematic review (meta analysis) of the evidence around the cost savings generated by workplace wellness programmes. Research databases, such as Medline were used to review the evidence from the last 30 years. The review focused on studies providing results from two groups of employees, one that participated in the wellness programme and a similar (control) group that did not take the programme for comparison.
Results
On average, employee wellness programmes costs US$144 and generates $358 worth of savings per person through reducing healthcare costs. This generates an average ROI of $3.27 on each $1 spent over 3 years.
Aim
Results
To analyse patterns of use of an interactive website for support of longterm weight maintenance and evaluate which web features were most effective.
People who used the intervention regularly were around twice as likely to maintain their weight loss.
The average ROI for saving costs through reducing absenteeism was $2.73. Over 2 years, the average costs of $132 per employee generated $294 worth of savings. It’s predicted that the cost of running wellness programmes would decrease in time, which may then mean a greater ROI.
348 participants on a weight loss maintenance programme, 37% of which were male. The participants had lost an average 8.6 kilograms and were trained to use an interactive website to maintain the weight loss.
What does this mean? Workplace wellness programmes can provide a strong return on investment through reducing healthcare costs and absenteeism, even in the first few years. These programmes can also bring benefits such as improved employee health and reduced turnover.
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Looked at
How? Participants were encouraged to log in at least weekly and enter their current weight for 30 months. The website contained features that encouraged setting short-term goals, creating action plans, and reinforcing selfmanagement habits. The website also included motivational modules, daily tips, and tailored messages. Dependant on how often they used the intervention, participants were divided into three categories: consistent, some, and minimal.
51% of consistent users kept their weight loss compared with 27% of some use and 24% of minimal users.
Interactive and engaging features increased user log in: motivational modules, daily tips, tailored content, and group interaction.
Automated email prompts and reminders also encouraged participants to login. Over 65% of participants were still actively logging onto the website at the end of the study.
The business benefits of health promotion programmes
The business benefits of health promotion programmes
Workplace wellness programme can generate savings and reduce absence
What does this mean? Online interventions that are interactive and tailored can provide feedback and support for people to maintain longterm weight loss.
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