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Health Works for Women

An Evidence-Based Practice

This practice has been Archived and is no longer maintained.

Description

Health Works for Women (HWW) is a worksite health promotion project that helps low-income and minority women receive information, guidance, and support to make behavioral changes related to nutrition, physical activity, smoking, and stress. In the HWW model, lay health advisors are trained to form worksite health promotion support networks and educate their peers about reducing their health risk behaviors. Women receive personalized tailored health information about each health behavior. In addition, employee wellness committees are formed at each worksite. The program sponsors healthy workplace and community health promotion activities such as health screenings, health fairs, and walking groups.

Goal / Mission

Health Works for Women aims to help low-income and minority women improve their health by eating healthier, being physically active, quitting smoking, and managing their stress.

Impact

This health promotion project was a successful model for blue collared women to obtain certain health behavior changes.

Results / Accomplishments

Research has shown that Health Works for Women is effective in helping women achieve their health goals and in changing certain health behaviors. In a randomized controlled trial the intervention group significantly increased their consumption of fruit and vegetables compared to no change in the control group. In addition, the intervention group showed declines in dietary fat intake. Women in the intervention group increased their average frequency of aerobic exercise and strength and flexibility exercise, compared with declines in the control group. In conclusion, the HWW project was shown to be successful for achieving certain health behavior changes among rural, blue-collar women workers.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
University of North Carolina's Center for Health Promotion
Primary Contact
No current contact information available
Topics
Health / Physical Activity
Health / Wellness & Lifestyle
Health / Women's Health
Organization(s)
University of North Carolina's Center for Health Promotion
Date of publication
2002
Location
North Carolina
For more details
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11902848
Target Audience
Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

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An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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