Writing result-oriented ad copy is difficult, as it must appeal to, entice, and convince consumers to take action.
n estimated 80% of large US employers offer wellness programs for their employees. In fact, wellness programs are often touted as key employee benefits.
But new research questions if wellness programs actually do reduce health care costs. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association was jointly conducted by Harvard and the University of Chicago.
The researchers randomly offered different wellness programs at various work sites and then tracked the results. Specifically, they offered new wellness programs at randomly selected locations of BJ’s Wholesale Clubs. Those results were compared to existing programs at other locations to identify any changes in individual behavior as well as any changes in the corporate culture.
The results showed some demonstrated behavior changes ... but little effect on other outcomes.
Behavior changes recorded at sites offering Wellness Programs:
Outcomes showing no significant impacts included:
Researchers noted that the field of studying wellness programs is still relatively new. Others have commented that 18 months might not be enough time to effectively measure the success/impact of wellness programs. Might it not take decades?
One of the coauthors of the study, Zirui Song, MD, PhD, assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Blavatnik Institute, stated her summary.
As we grow to understand how best to encourage healthy behavior, it may be that workplace wellness programs will play an important role in improving health and lowering the cost of health care. ... For now, however, we should remain cautious about our expectations from such interventions. Rigorous research to measure the effects of such programs can help make sure we’re spending society’s health and wellness dollars in the most effective way.
One missing variable is the role that education plays. Would behavior change absent of an increase in health literacy even be sustainable? Conversely, if employees better understand their personal health — how to properly use an asthma inhaler, for example – would behavior change persist longer?
We’ll be fielding these questions to several health literacy experts so check back for their responses.
A version of this article was originally published 4/19/2019.
Health insurance plans can seem like they’re written in secret code.
Between trying to decipher mysterious acronyms — like HSAs, FSAs, and HDHPs — and remembering your portal password, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
"Many of the people we work with feel overwhelmed with the process of choosing the right health insurance plan options," says Scott Spann, a financial planner with Financial Finesse, a provider of workplace financial wellness benefits.. "The majority of Americans are anxious about rising premiums and choosing the right type of coverage." But digging into the details is well worth the effort, he adds.
As high deductible healthcare plans continue to grow in popularity, it’s important to at least take time to understand the basics. Failing to take the time to review your options can be a costly mistake.
Can’t find your decoder ring? This primer can help you get started. EdLogics members can find more in the Glossary of Terms on our Health Insurance learning page.
A version of this article was originally published 6/28/2017.
More and more people are talking about health literacy across the globe.
Experts in medicine, government and public policy are continuing to expand their understanding of the incredible opportunity that increasing health literacy can have in improving health and health outcomes.
Low health literacy means someone has trouble understanding basic healthcare facts, and it often leads to poor health outcomes. These challenges include:
At the recent Health Literacy Conference presented by Wisconsin Literacy in Madison, Wisconsin, luminaries and academics in the area of health literacy met to discuss how to better address the global challenges and costs associated with low health literacy.
In a panel led by the International Health Literacy Association (IHLA), the organization shared its goals and tactics for addressing this global issue.
The International Health Literacy Association (IHLA) is a member-based association for professional development within the health literacy field. IHLA serves a diverse range of stakeholders, medicals, public health professionals, educators, as well as many others engaged in health literacy, research, policy, education and practice.
While research is being conducted across the globe, there is currently little coordination of these efforts or even the sharing of critical data and findings. Not surprisingly, much of this research is carried out within very homogenous populations. This makes the global relevancy of any accumulated data a relatively complex topic.
The IHLA seeks to help in a number of ways:
The IHLA launched with meeting in North America, Asia and Europe. They are currently developing a schedule for upcoming meetings and initiatives.
They are also forming work groups and creating a more formal organizational structure. Visit the International Health Literacy Association for more informaton.
A version of this article was originally published 4/18/2017.
We’re proud. But we’re not surprised.
A study by the University of Oregon's Brian Primack, MD, PhD — an EdLogics advisor — has been named Article of the Year by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM). The study, “Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation Among Young Adults in the US,” examines whether time on social media actually helps — or hurts — our personal connections.
From the journal:
“The Article of the Year is selected by the AJPM editors and one representative from each of the journal’s two sponsoring professional societies, the American College of Preventive Medicine and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research.”
The honor was announced late last year.
You might recall our recent webinar, “Improving Health Literacy: What Works & Why,” featuring Dr. Primack and EdLogics advisor and health literacy expert Dr. Russell Rothman, MD, MPP, of Vanderbilt University. Dr. Primack made some illuminating, thought-provoking points on the effectiveness of gamification and game-based learning for improving health literacy.
In addition to being an EdLogics advisor, Dr. Primack is the director of Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at the University of Pittsburgh. For this study, he and his colleagues surveyed 1,787 adults in the US ages 19–32, asking about their social media habits across 11 different social networks. They also asked about loneliness and isolation, gauging the correlation between social media use and feeling left out.
What they found surprised them.
You’d think that social media connects us. That’s the point, isn’t it?
But the more people use social media, the more lonely they say they feel. In fact, those who used it more than 2 hours a day were twice as likely to report feeling socially isolated, compared to those who spent a half-hour a day or less.
“The people in the highest quartile of social media use [more than 58 visits a week] … had about 3 times the likelihood of having perceived social isolation,” Primack says. “Social media does not translate directly to better social connectedness.”
He goes on:
“It may be that people who are already socially isolated are turning to social media to try to fill that void. However, if that is the case, the results of this study would suggest that that self-medication is not working so well.
“On the other hand, it may be that people who use more social media are being exposed to highly curated messages suggesting that ‘everyone else has more connections, a better life than I do.’ And in comparison, people can feel sad or they can feel socially isolated. … It may be a combination of the two.”
American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2017 Article of the Year
Brian A. Primack, MD, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh discusses “Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation Among Young Adults in the U.S.” This article was chosen by the editors of AJPM as the top article published in the journal in 2017.
It can depend on how you use social media. Primack is already making plans for future studies that get into more nuanced detail. That way, we can see what types of social media use correlate to feeling more — or less — lonely. We can see which social media behaviors correlate to which feelings.
Until then, Primack says, everyone can judge for themselves how social media affects them:
“Is their social media use making their lives better, is it inadvertently detracting from them?”
The study: Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation Among Young Adults in the US
NPR: Feeling Lonely? Too Much Time On Social Media May Be Why
Today: Feeling Lonely? How to Stop Social Media From Making You Feel Isolated
CBS (video): Study: More Social Media Use Tied To Increasing Feelings Of Isolation
A version of this article was originally published 1/19/2019.
