Impact of Employee Health Promotion Course on Health Promotion in the Work Place.

Poor health of employees can cause absences, lack of continuous service, decreased output or productions, fatigue or lack of concentration, and eventually financial damage to the employer. Research shows that health promotion programs in the work place improve employee's physical and emotional health, as well as their sense of commitment, belonging, and responsibility. People of working age spend most of their day at work, and usually have less time to participate in other activities, the work day in Israel being one of the longest in the OECD. Work places, therefore, present the most suitable setting for health interventions, as they are an accessible and available framework and have real potential of creating change. The current Health Promotion in the Work Place training course aims to train female employees to design, implement, and evaluate a health promotion program in their workplace, as well as promote personal change in improving healthy habits, and empowering the participants. Objectives include improving eating habits, increasing engagement in physical activity, increasing self-efficacy, and designing a detailed health promotion program in the work place, based on it's needs, and implementing it there. In order to accomplish these objectives, a unique course has been designed, consisting of 20 sessions- 15 consecutive sessions, and 5 maintenance sessions throughout the year. The course will focus on acquiring health knowledge and health promotion skills, as well as leadership skills and empowerment. The participants will learn how to build programs, market them to their coworkers and employers, budget them, recruit partners, create a Gantt charts, implement and evaluate. The maintenance sessions will take place in different work places, so that the participants can showcase their projects. Data will be collected at baseline and 2 post interventions follow up points (after 15 weeks and after one year).