In a few classes recently, we have been talking about ecological models. As I highly support that all levels from society to the individual need to be addressed in order to make health behavior change feasible, I think it is really hard to make strong interventions at each level when using this model. This model has been used a lot with increasing physical activity, one of my biggest interests. The use of this model addresses the need for the safe environment and resources, social support, and personal values and attitudes towards physical activity. One think I was wondering is where "time", one of the most reported barriers to not engaging in sufficient PA, would fit in. This then led me to think about my internship last summer that took place at a corporate wellness company.
I thought time might fit in at the organizational/societal level, because the norm in the U.S. is 40-hour work weeks with the addition of caring for a family and your personal life. Some companies have already adopted "personal time" into the work day for their employees. For example, Apple allows employees 30 minutes a day to meditate. Companies such as Google, Nike, and Yahoo! also have meditation spaces and group fitness classes available for employees. Fitbit, another company leading in wellness programs, provides treadmill desks and a voluntary comprehensive wellness program including incentives and competitions among employees. During college, there are so many health resources and so many influences on your health. Once you enter the workplace, I believe your primary influence is your work environment and the people you work with. That is why I beleive corporate wellness programs are so important. They allow employees to time to relieve stress and improve their health, which in turn, the ultimate goal is to have healthier. more productive employees who feel that their employer cares. Even if your workplace does not pay for you to exercise or provide treadmill desks, having a a positive health-focused environment I believe can really have an impact on one's attitudes towards adopting a health lifestyle.
In my ideal world, pizza & donuts wouldn't be allowed at meetings, and every employee would be provided the opportunity and the resource to exercise, meditate, etc. for 30 minutes of the work day :)
Hannah,
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree with you! I think health and wellness should be at the center of a company's corporate culture. It has been proven to increase employee retention, employee satisfaction, and can combat many public health issues we face in North America- rises in obesity and depression being only a couple of such issues. I think learning from Asian cultures who have been largely successful in recent economic booms has been the reason as to why such companies you mention above have implemented these changes. For instance, in China, a portion of their days are segmented into physical movement, rest on their desks with lights out etc. As we have been discussing through the duration of the class as how everything is interconnected towards public health issues, looking at something like a country's economic success and learning from others can be beneficial.
What would be interesting to study is how the children of these employees differ in terms of health status and healthy lifestyle attitudes in comparison to the children of employees of a company who hold traditional corporate cultures not designed around health and balance (traditional 9 to 5+). Does the parent's healthy workplace impact the values and attitudes that are imposed on their children? If so, that would be a wonderful measure to support policy changes in countries; policies surrounding mandated areas of rest, time for physical activity etc.!
Hi Hannah & Amy
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you! Such work environments will definetely be more than perfect for both work productivity and individual (and consequently community) health and wellbeing.
However; I want to comment from another perspective. Actually, I used to be a big fan of ecological model. However; I recently started to change my point of view a little bit especially when being applied in the developing world. Although, using this model is theoritically ideal, it is practically of less benefit as it targets different aspects in the same time. This is especially challenging when faced by the cultural, political and economical constrains of the developing world. Tackling all these challenges beside the individual and interpersonal levels simultaneously will result in loss of focus and minimum and slow outcomes. Applying this model in the developing world should be taken cautiously. In my opinion, setting priorities according to each target community in order to be tackeled first before going for this ecological approach will be more beneficial in these communities.