Page 143 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2021. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo / Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
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importance of subjective measures of workplace health psihologija / sociala in zdravje starejših odraslih | psychology / social and health of the elderly
promotion interventions effectiveness for older adults
Nada Žegarac1, Klemen Širok2
1. University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Koper, Slovenia
2 University of Primorska, Faculty of Health Sciences, Izola, Slovenia
Introduction. Aging is a physiological process that cannot be stopped. With age,
a person loses some of its physical and mental abilities. Slowing down the pro-
cess of aging is related to an individual’s physical activity. Thus, it is crucial to
encourage older adults in active ageing. By engaging older adults in health pro-
motion programs (especially at a workplace in case of older workers), we sup-
port them in an independent and healthy life. After implementation of inter-
vention, it is necessary to assess the effectiveness of the measures. The effects
can be measured by various measures and/or measurement methods: sub-
jective methods (questionnaires, surveys,…) and/or objective methods (heart
rate monitors, blood tests, pedometers,…). Data collection made by an ob-
jective method is generally more expensive and often logistically more difficult
to carry out, especially in the workplace setting. Namely, work environments
rarely allow longer interruptions or the simultaneous absence of a large num-
ber of employees.
Methods. The PRISMA method was used to review the subjective measures of
the effects of (workplace) health promotion programs used in practice. The
analysis that was made is based on a review of articles in SAGE, PUBMED,
JSTOR and WILEY databases. Following keywords were used: employee or
workplace or worksite; health or promotion or well-being or wellness; pro-
gram or intervention; measure; self-reporting. In the first step the review of the
abstracts and titles resulted in 79 studies. Taking into account the exclusion cri-
teria, we eliminated 50 articles, and the remaining 29 were included in the anal-
ysis. We considered the following exclusion criteria: lack of access to a full text,
the use of qualitative methods, and the exclusive use of objective measures.
Results. In the final analysis, we included 29 interventions, the effects of which
were measured (among other things) by subjective measures. Most interven-
tions are from the areas of physical activity, healthy eating, weight loss, stress
management, consume alcohol and conflict reduction. The review showed that
if the questions in the subjective assessment questionnaires are clearly defined,
scored, and applied correctly, their reliability is high – with Crombach alpha be-
tween 0.60 and 0.86.
Discussion and conclusion. With the development of online surveying and its use
via mobile devices, the self-reporting option is becoming increasingly attrac-
tive due to cost, time, and logistics efficiency, and the avoidance of errors such
as e.g., double reporting. At the same time, self-reporting can be valid and re-
liable and thus represent an attractive alternative to objective measuring of
the effects of health promotion measures in work environments among old-
er adults. After all, clinical measures can accurately measure, e.g., weight, but
not happiness in achieving the goal – weight loss, whereby these two should be
considered as a whole. Therefore, it is important to catalogue the subjective
measures of the effects of health promotion measures (at work).
Keywords: intervention, workplace health promotion, effect, subjective
measure
141
promotion interventions effectiveness for older adults
Nada Žegarac1, Klemen Širok2
1. University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Koper, Slovenia
2 University of Primorska, Faculty of Health Sciences, Izola, Slovenia
Introduction. Aging is a physiological process that cannot be stopped. With age,
a person loses some of its physical and mental abilities. Slowing down the pro-
cess of aging is related to an individual’s physical activity. Thus, it is crucial to
encourage older adults in active ageing. By engaging older adults in health pro-
motion programs (especially at a workplace in case of older workers), we sup-
port them in an independent and healthy life. After implementation of inter-
vention, it is necessary to assess the effectiveness of the measures. The effects
can be measured by various measures and/or measurement methods: sub-
jective methods (questionnaires, surveys,…) and/or objective methods (heart
rate monitors, blood tests, pedometers,…). Data collection made by an ob-
jective method is generally more expensive and often logistically more difficult
to carry out, especially in the workplace setting. Namely, work environments
rarely allow longer interruptions or the simultaneous absence of a large num-
ber of employees.
Methods. The PRISMA method was used to review the subjective measures of
the effects of (workplace) health promotion programs used in practice. The
analysis that was made is based on a review of articles in SAGE, PUBMED,
JSTOR and WILEY databases. Following keywords were used: employee or
workplace or worksite; health or promotion or well-being or wellness; pro-
gram or intervention; measure; self-reporting. In the first step the review of the
abstracts and titles resulted in 79 studies. Taking into account the exclusion cri-
teria, we eliminated 50 articles, and the remaining 29 were included in the anal-
ysis. We considered the following exclusion criteria: lack of access to a full text,
the use of qualitative methods, and the exclusive use of objective measures.
Results. In the final analysis, we included 29 interventions, the effects of which
were measured (among other things) by subjective measures. Most interven-
tions are from the areas of physical activity, healthy eating, weight loss, stress
management, consume alcohol and conflict reduction. The review showed that
if the questions in the subjective assessment questionnaires are clearly defined,
scored, and applied correctly, their reliability is high – with Crombach alpha be-
tween 0.60 and 0.86.
Discussion and conclusion. With the development of online surveying and its use
via mobile devices, the self-reporting option is becoming increasingly attrac-
tive due to cost, time, and logistics efficiency, and the avoidance of errors such
as e.g., double reporting. At the same time, self-reporting can be valid and re-
liable and thus represent an attractive alternative to objective measuring of
the effects of health promotion measures in work environments among old-
er adults. After all, clinical measures can accurately measure, e.g., weight, but
not happiness in achieving the goal – weight loss, whereby these two should be
considered as a whole. Therefore, it is important to catalogue the subjective
measures of the effects of health promotion measures (at work).
Keywords: intervention, workplace health promotion, effect, subjective
measure
141
