Health Promotion Blog

A gap analysis is an assessment tool that enables a corporation to compare its current capabilities and performance with industry benchmarks and expectations for performance. A gap analysis is used to identify areas that have room for improvement.

Gap analysis can also be used for your Corporate Health Promotion Program to determine where the program stands now and how the Corporate Health Promotion Program can better follow evidence-based recommendations.

To begin a gap analysis, ask these simple questions about your Corporate Health Promotion Program:
• What is the current state of the Corporate Health Promotion Program?
• How does the Corporate Health Promotion Program measure up to evidence-based practices? (i.e., the desired state)

The gap is the difference between the current and desired states.

After the gap has been identified, the next step is to determine the action steps that are needed to close the gap. These actions answer the question: “How can the Corporate Health Promotion Program move forward towards the desired state?”

Sometimes the gaps that need to be filled can be addressed through Corporate Health Promotion Program changes; other gaps might require policy changes. However, using a gap analysis will help you identify areas for Corporate Health Promotion Program improvement as well as the actions needed to make progress towards those goals.

Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation plan review (from Key #19)
• A Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation plan is a roadmap for success.
• Your Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation plan should convincingly demonstrate that your Corporate Health Promotion Program will help the organization to achieve its goals.

More smart Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation planning strategies

Planning the Corporate Health Promotion Program
• Determine how your organization plans so that your planning process will be in sync with what already happens in the organization.
• Involve other people. A planning team brings their combined experience and perspective to the process. Including potential partners as you plan will make it easier to get their buy-in later.

Thinking of the big picture

• Look at the barriers and challenges that might be encountered during Corporate Health Promotion Program implementation. Develop strategies ahead of time to overcome these potential problems.
• Do a SWOT analysis and examine Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

This analysis will help you identify potential problem areas or resource shortfalls as well as opportunities for growth or increased partnerships with other installation personnel.

The WORST corporation planning strategy: sitting in your office; working by yourself.

The best Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation planning strategies
• Get out of your office; get out of the corporation. The more people you involve in the Corporate Health Promotion Program planning process, the better. Always look for ways to expand your network.
• Keep your budget people informed. Get to know their philosophy of financial management.
• Be able to articulate the impact if your budget is not fully funded.
o Stay away from basing your impact-if-not-funded argument only on: “We have to.”
o Instead, describe the impact-if-not-funded with phrases like: injuries to workers, increased compensation costs, increased medical care costs for patients, lost work time, loss of licenses/accreditations, loss of workload to the Tricare network.
• Always have purchase requests ready to be submitted. There is often a short window of time to process these requests. Having the information gathered ahead of time will make it easy to submit the information right away.

A well thought-out Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation plan is essential in these times of shrinking budgets and resources. A good corporation plan will help you gain leadership support and help you get and keep resources needed to implement the Corporate Health Promotion Program.

A corporation plan is a roadmap for success. Use the guidelines below to develop a realistic corporation plan and budget for your Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

What is a corporation plan?

• A plan for success
• A document that convincingly demonstrates that your Corporate Health Promotion Program will help the organization to achieve its goals.

Questions to ask when developing a Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation plan

• Why do you need to do the Corporate Health Promotion Program?
• What are you going to do?
• Where are you going to do it?
• Who is the target audience?
• How are you going to do it?
• Who is going to implement the Corporate Health Promotion Program?
• How much will the Corporate Health Promotion Program cost Upper Management?
• What is Upper Management going to get out of the Corporate Health Promotion Program? Why should Upper Management invest in the Corporate Health Promotion Program?

Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation Plan Components

• Title and duration of the Corporate Health Promotion Program
• Points of contact
• Background information (description of need; bibliography/literature review; how the Corporate Health Promotion Program will help achieve the organization’s goals)
• Corporate Health Promotion Program description
• Goals and objectives
• Implementation site
• Target population
• Work plan
• Partnerships and collaborations
• Timelines and milestones
• Budget and resource requirements (dollars and people)

Gaining the support of leadership

• Clearly link the Corporate Health Promotion Program goals and objectives to the organization’s strategic plan.
• Focus on the desired outcomes.
• Use the right language for the right audience. For example, Upper Management is interested in decreased clinic visits, increased provider productivity, management of the health of the population. However, Upper Management is interested in increased readiness, decreased lost duty/training time, and decreased disability and FECA claims.
A well thought-out Corporate Health Promotion Program corporation plan will help you gain leadership support, help you get and keep resources needed to implement the Corporate Health Promotion Program, and keep the Corporate Health Promotion Program on track towards meaningful outcomes.

As they say: “timing is everything.” Use the guidelines below to guide the timing of Corporate Health Promotion Program activities and data collection.

Timing: Corporate Health Promotion Program Start-up

• Look at the optimal time to start a new Corporate Health Promotion Program. Take into account preferences of the target population and other factors that could affect enrollment and participation.
• For example, coordinating the start of an adult weight management initiative with the start of school in August or September may be a good tie-in with a “fresh start.”
• On the other hand, starting an adult weight management initiative In January may not be a great idea because of the constraints that weather may put on exercising outdoors.
• Make use of other timing cycles at your installation. Planning a marketing blitz just after the PCS turnover has been completed is a good way to let new personnel know what Corporate Health Promotion Program options are available.

Timing: Corporate Health Promotion Program Participant Support

• Look at how frequently Corporate Health Promotion Program sessions should be offered to provide the best support and education for participants and the best opportunity for success.
• Get feedback from participants regarding what session frequencies work best for them.
• Look at the timing for other support mechanisms like email encouragement. What timing of those messages will benefit participants most: Weekly? Bi-monthly? Monthly?

Timing: Corporate Health Promotion Program Data Collection

• Collecting data is an excellent way to track participant progress and also to identify potential problems within a Corporate Health Promotion Program. So, give some thought to the frequency and timing of data collection.
• Select metrics that can realistically change during the Corporate Health Promotion Program implementation time period. For example, BMI and weight may not change very much during a 10-week Corporate Health Promotion Program; however, step counts are more likely to noticeably change.
• Some data, such as participant responsiveness to out-of-class assignments (like food journals) and other interim data (like step counts) will provide important information needed to “adjust fire” as needed and make Corporate Health Promotion Program changes if something is not working.
• Be flexible regarding data collection frequency. Instead of requiring that participants complete an physical fitness log every day, for example, consider asking for a “snapshot” summary from two or three days during the week. You will still get information to review, but participants will have an easier time complying with the assignment.

Timing: Corporate Health Promotion Program Follow-up

• Because the we are such a mobile population, it’s best to plan some sort of post-Corporate Health Promotion Program follow-up data collection within two to four months after the Corporate Health Promotion Program ends.
• You can always try to collect additional follow-up data at 6 or 12 months after Corporate Health Promotion Program completion. However, if you collect the data sooner, you’ll at least have collected some short term Corporate Health Promotion Program impact information before participants are lost to follow-up.

Corporate Health Promotion Program communication is important to all aspects of Wellness and preventive medicine and is relevant to:

• Healthcare provider-patient relationships
• An individual’s exposure to, search for, and use of Corporate Health Promotion Program information
• Effective counseling and patient education for behavior change
• Content of public health messages and community campaigns

Effective health communication should have these attributes:

• Accuracy: content is valid and error-free
• Availability: delivered or placed where the intended audience can access the information
• Balance: content presents benefits and risks of potential actions
• Consistency: content is locally consistent over time and is also consistent with information from other reliable sources
• Evidence-based: content and methods of delivery are based on relevant scientific proof
• Reach: content gets to or is available to as many people as possible in the target population
• Reliability: content source is credible; content is kept up-to-date
• Repetition: delivery of/access to the content is continued over time, to reinforce the impact with the audience and to reach new members of the target population
• Timeliness: content is provided when the audience is most receptive to, or in need of, the specific information
• Understandability: reading, language levels, and format are appropriate for the specific audience (i.e., Employees, Family Members, Garrison leadership, etc.)

What the research says about health communication

• Health communication best supports Wellness when multiple communication methods are used to reach specific audiences.
• Effective Wellness and communication initiatives should reflect an audiencecentered perspective, and reflect the preferred formats, contexts, and means of communication for the intended audience.

Material adapted from: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. 2nd ed. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for Improving Health. 2 vols. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 2000.
http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/HTML/Volume1/11HealthCom.htm

Evaluation of successful Corporate Health Promotion Programs has revealed several key Corporate Health Promotion Program strategies to increase Corporate Health Promotion Program effectiveness and impact overall Soldier health.

Strategy #5: Using a small number of targeted priorities maintains Corporate Health Promotion Program focus.

• Needs assessment data can be used to identify leading health needs and also high risk populations.
• Choosing a handful of specific health needs on which to focus will maximize efficient use of resources.
• Keeping the Corporate Health Promotion Program focus small will avoid duplication of other ongoing installation Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

Strategy #6: Use standardized processes whenever possible.

Reduce the amount of variation within your Corporate Health Promotion Programs by standardizing all the processes needed for Corporate Health Promotion Program planning and implementation. For example:
• Use the same spreadsheet format for data collection so that the columns are in the same order. This way you can compare data more easily.
• Reuse the same forms for enrollment and attendance. Change the heading as needed.
• Look at other Wellness Programming processes (like registration, evaluation, marketing, etc.). What parts of those processes can be standardized?
• The Wellness and Prevention Initiatives website (http://chppmwww. apgea.army.mil/dhpw/Population/HPPiFunction.aspx) has many standardized Corporate Health Promotion Program resources in a variety of topic areas.

Strategy #7: Corporate Health Promotion Program delivery methods should be flexible and adapted to population needs.

• Delivery of products and services may depend on: unit needs, training requirements, other scheduling considerations (such as work/duty schedules, school scheduling, etc.), participant preference, and/or availability of staff or space.
• Be flexible: the same produce/service delivery methods may not work for every population.
• Some units may want services provided to them as close as possible to the unit location; other units may prefer as many services as possible bundled together at once (regardless of location).
• Take Wellness and preventive medicine beyond the walls of the corporation in order to meet leadership and worker needs. Answer the question: “How can we best help leadership and Employees to fulfill their mission?”

Evaluation of successful Corporate Health Promotion Programs has revealed several key Corporate Health Promotion Program strategies to increase Corporate Health Promotion Program effectiveness and impact overall Soldier health.

Strategy #1: Communication with leadership is essential

• Assess leadership priorities.
• Report Corporate Health Promotion Program outcomes back to leadership in a timely manner.
• Equal investments of support from both the medical and line community will result in enhanced Corporate Health Promotion Program success.

Strategy #2: Corporate Health Promotion Program planning must be driven by data.

• Determine specific needs of the target population.
• Focus on the health status of the population as a whole to identify the top health concerns.
• Data should drive decisions regarding which health needs should be addressed first.

Strategy #3: Use electronic data collection and reporting as often as possible.

• Centrally collected data in an electronic format is essential for determining population health needs.
• Electronic reporting is also very valuable when communicating Corporate Health Promotion Program outcomes to leadership and other stakeholders.
• Flexible reporting capabilities allow data to be presented as information that can support decision-making, in formats that decision-makers prefer.

Strategy #4: Multidisciplinary collaboration enhances worker health and maximizes available resources.

• Collaboration between health disciplines increases effectiveness of Wellness and preventive medicine interventions.
• Don’t forget to look outside the corporation for collaboration partners.
• Optimized Corporate Health Promotion Program outcomes can be reached by coordinating the activities of medical consultants, cadre, community agents, and funding sources.
• Bundling services together also provides the additional benefit to units by conserving training and mission time.
Implementing these strategies can improve Corporate Health Promotion Program effectiveness and optimize available resources.

Changing health-related behaviors is a difficult challenge. Incorporate the tools below into your Wellness initiatives to assist participants in successfully changing health behaviors.

Tool #1: Set effective goals

• Focus on areas that can impact the overall goal.
• For example, if the overall goal is to lose weight, the most productive areas to focus on are the dietary and activity changes that will lead to long-term weight loss.
• For example, stress management and improving self-esteem may also impact weight loss; however, improving relationships, while a worthwhile topic, will not necessarily impact weight loss.
• Make the goals specific, attainable, and forgiving. For example:
• “Exercise more” is too general.
• “Walk five miles everyday” is specific, but may not be attainable.
• “Walk 30 minutes everyday” is specific and more attainable, but is not very flexible.
• “Walk 30 minutes, five days a week” is specific, attainable, and forgiving.
• Use a series of short-term goals to achieve the ultimate goal.
• Short-term goals break big challenges into more easily attained pieces.
• Smaller steps also provide Corporate Health Promotion Program participants with encouragement and success. These small successes are essential for maintaining motivation towards a long-term goal.

Tool #2: Increase self-awareness

• Self-monitoring is useful for tracking behavioral and environmental cues that trigger a particular behavior.
• Keeping track of behavior status is also useful for times when progress towards a goal is difficult to measure, or when an individual is in a maintenance stage.

Tool #3: Offer rewards and motivation

• Encourage participants to reward themselves for achieving small successes on the way to their ultimate goal.
• Remember that rewards don’t always have to be “things.” Words of encouragement and praise can provide powerful motivation when spoken by a teacher, instructor, parent, friend, etc.

Tool #4: Respond effectively to set-backs

• behavior change is conceptually a continuum. However, movement along that continuum is not just in one direction. Staff members can move backwards or forwards or sometimes just stay put. Communicate to participants that set-backs, lapses and even staying the same (i.e., maintenance) are common for individuals trying to change behavior.
• Stress is often a factor in lapses and relapses. Offer a variety of stress management resources to help participants better handle the stress which could trigger a set-back.
• Brain storm to create a list of potential (and probable) barriers to participant behavior change. Then formulate strategies to meet each of those challenges.
• Improved time management and decision-making skills can be effective ways to overcome behavior change relapses.
• Offer participants with information regarding the behavior change process so that they will be better prepared for the challenges they will face. A brief overview of the Stages of Change may be helpful.

Most businesses do not have the Corporate Health Promotion Program resources to address all of their health needs at once. Priorities must be set to determine the most pressing health needs. Use the steps below to prioritize installation Wellness needs.

Assess the health needs of the population.

Collect data about the health needs in the community. How?

• Community- or target group-specific surveys

Identify health needs and at-risk populations.

Use the data to identify leading health needs and also high risk populations. For example:
• Obesity and overweight
• Injury prevention
• Self care

Reduce the list.

Not every health need can (or should) be addressed. Use the following questions to determine which health needs should be addressed first.
• How does the health need impact operational readiness? How big is the impact?
• What are the Upper Management priorities? How does the health need fit into those priorities?
• What are the behavioral factors affecting the health need? What is the proof that a behavior change will make a difference? Has the behavior been successfully changed by other Corporate Health Promotion Programs?
• What other social, physical, or environmental factors influence the health need or the target population?
• Is the health need a greater problem at the local level than in the U.S. population as a whole?
• Does the corporation have the subject matter expertise and resources to address the health need?

Develop Corporate Health Promotion Program recommendations.

Only a handful of specific health needs should be focused on in a given year. Keep the following in mind as recommendations are developed as to which specific health needs will be addressed:
• Avoid duplication of other ongoing Corporate Health Promotion Programs whenever possible. Identify Corporate Health Promotion Programs already addressing the health need and/or the target population.
• Identify and assess available resources. Build on existing services whenever possible.

Use the recommendations to offer tailored, targeted, integrated interventions to address the prioritized list of health needs. Prioritizing health needs will keep Corporate Health Promotion Programs focused, maximize efficient use of resources, and align Wellness efforts with Upper Management goals and priorities.

References
• US Department of Health and Human Services, Planned Approach to Community Health, http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/PATCH/index.htm.
• Implementing a Comprehensive Community Wellness and Well Being Program, presentation by CHPPM-EUR at the 2006 Force Health Protection Conference

Keeping the bottom line up front Bottom Line Up Front in Corporate Health Promotion Program will help you get and sustain Upper Management support. A Bottom Line Up Front approach will also help you more realistically measure the impact of your Corporate Health Promotion Program.

The bottom line in Corporate Health Promotion Programs answer two key questions:

• How will participant health be improved?
• What’s in it for Upper Management?

The ultimate bottom line: all roads should lead to readiness.

• Always be ready to communicate to leadership the ways that your Corporate Health Promotion Program impacts readiness.
• Think like Upper Management: what Corporate Health Promotion Program outcomes will be important from a Upper Management point of view?
• Develop line-centered language that communicates those outcomes.
• Ask participants how they think a particular Corporate Health Promotion Program enhances force readiness. This input is a valuable source of information.

Use the following steps as a Bottom Line Up Front approach to Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

Step 1: Think about the end of the Corporate Health Promotion Program first and plan backwards.

• It has been said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
• Before planning or implementing any part of the Corporate Health Promotion Program, be able to answer the questions: how will participant health be improved? What’s in it for Upper Management?

Step 2: Identify concrete Corporate Health Promotion Program outcomes.

• Identify up front what the Corporate Health Promotion Program is working towards.
o For example: will participants lose weight? Walk more steps? Decrease injuries? Move to another stage of change?
• Identify any processes or procedures that will be improved.
o For example: which pharmacy operations will become more efficient? How will record-keeping be streamlined?

Step 3: Determine what will be measured to show that Corporate Health Promotion Program goals were achieved.

• Look at what data is really needed to show Corporate Health Promotion Program effectiveness. Avoid the temptation to collect every possible piece of data. Choose a handful of important data points and stick to those.
• Think backwards when determining what data to collect – consider how easily follow-up data can be collected when a Corporate Health Promotion Program ends. Getting follow-up data is often a challenge.
• Only collect data for health behaviors or indicators that the Corporate Health Promotion Program actually affected.
o For example: if the main Corporate Health Promotion Program goal is that participants will walk more steps, then it may be better NOT to choose changes in cholesterol level as a Corporate Health Promotion Program outcome (unless the Corporate Health Promotion Program specifically addresses cholesterol).
• Avoid measuring outcomes that the Corporate Health Promotion Program cannot (or did not) affect.

Step 4: Determine what Corporate Health Promotion Program elements must be included to move participants towards the Corporate Health Promotion Program goals.

• The concrete Corporate Health Promotion Program outcomes identified in Step 2 are the compass for keeping the Corporate Health Promotion Program on track. All Corporate Health Promotion Program elements should lead towards that ultimate goal.

Working backwards when planning and implementing Corporate Health Promotion Programs is really forward thinking. Keeping the bottom line up front is a smart approach to Corporate Health Promotion Programs.