Assessing Opportunities to Enhance Comprehensive Health Promotion and Wellness Programming in a State Community College System.

BACKGROUND North Carolina has the third largest community college system in the nation and reaches residents in all 100 counties. Few studies have focused on the health of employees who work at these institutions. We assessed the current status of and interest in supporting health promotion efforts among North Carolina Community College System members.METHODS North Carolina Community College System presidents completed a brief 15-item survey assessing support for and interest in offering health promotion programs. Wellness coordinators completed a 60-item questionnaire assessing current health promotion programming and organizational, environmental, and policy supports for health promotion efforts. Onsite interviews with a sub-sample of Wellness coordinators offered insights into important implementation considerations. We examined differences by campus size with Fisher's exact test.RESULTS All 58 presidents (100%) and 51 wellness coordinators (88%) completed surveys. Ten percent of colleges offered comprehensive employee health promotion programming. Most offered physical activity (70.6%), tobacco cessation (51.0%), weight loss/management (49.0%), and/or nutrition counseling (47.1%). Larger colleges were more likely to offer programming and environmental support. Nearly all presidents (89.7%) believed it is "very" or "extremely" important to offer health promotion programs to employees, and most (84%) were interested in promoting health through a university partnership.LIMITATIONS Despite very high survey response rates from presidents and wellness coordinators at each community college, onsite interviews were only done at select campuses, limiting the generalizability and scope of conclusions derived from interview data.CONCLUSION Community colleges in North Carolina are promising settings for promoting employee health. Findings identify resources, barriers, and technical assistance that could facilitate greater adoption and implementation of programs.

Knowledge and perceptions among overweight and obese employees about lifestyle-related health benefit changes.

BACKGROUND: We investigated perceptions among overweight and obese state employees about changes to health insurance that were designed to reduce the scope of health benefits for employees who are obese or who smoke. METHODS: Before implementation of health benefit plan changes, 658 state employees who were overweight (ie, those with a body mass index [BMI] of 25-29.9) or obese (ie, those with a BMI of > or = 30) enrolled in a weight-loss intervention study were asked about their attitudes and beliefs concerning the new benefit plan changes. RESULTS: Thirty-one percent of employees with a measured BMI of 40 or greater self-reported a BMI of less than 40, suggesting they were unaware that their current BMI would place them in a higher-risk benefit plan. More than half of all respondents reported that the new benefit changes would motivate them to make behavioral changes, but fewer than half felt confident in their ability to make changes. Respondents with a BMI of 40 or greater were more likely than respondents in lower BMI categories to oppose the new changes focused on obesity (P < .001). Current smokers were more likely than former smokers and nonsmokers to oppose the new benefit changes focused on tobacco use (P < .01). LIMITATIONS: Participants represented a sample of employees enrolled in a weight-loss study, limiting generalizability to the larger population of state employees. CONCLUSIONS: Benefit plan changes that require employees who are obese and smoke to pay more for health care may motivate some, but not all, individuals to change their behaviors. Since confidence to lose weight was lowest among individuals in the highest BMI categories, more-intense intervention options may be needed to achieve desired health behavior changes.