An Integrated Approach to Health, Wellbeing, and Productivity at Work

The aim of the 'Integrated Approach to Health, Wellbeing, and Productivity at Work (ITASPA)' project is to investigate the effect of the Australian WorkHealth Improvement Network (WIN) program and the Total Worker Health (TWH) concepts in a Danish context among blue-collar workers. The project is evaluated via its effect on: 1) Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), 2) Functionality, 3) Psychosocial wellbeing, and 4) Safety culture. In addition, we evaluate the intervention effect on BMI, heart rate, and blood pressure. Furthermore, the ITASPA project aims to examine the degree of implementation of the initiated initiatives and identify barriers and facilitating factors for implementation. This contributes to the knowledge about what characterizes best practices for the implementation of integrated workplace interventions. Based on identified work health challenges at the included worksites, a group of employees at each workplace will develop and implement their own project activities. Remaining employees will participate in one screening questionnaire prior to the intervention followed by five health checks and interview based questionnaires. All intervention activities and health checks take place at the participants' workplace during paid working hours. ITASPA is a workplace intervention, conducted in a stepped wedge design. The stepped wedge design are assumed to increase the willingness to participate as it allows all workers to receive the intervention. The workers function as their own control and thereby, the stepped wedge design allows for an effect-evaluation, mimicking an RCT design. To increase the transferring of the WIN program to a broad variety of Danish worksites, both public and private worksites are aimed to be enrolled. The worksites will be enrolled on basis of their willingness to perform the ITASPA activities during paid worktime and participation in the scientific evaluation of the ITASPA project. The ITASPA project will be organized by a steering group consisting of the ITASPA project managers, representatives from the senior management at the enrolled worksites, and the ITASPA facilitators from the Department of Occupational and Social Medicine at Holbæk Hospital, Denmark. Moreover, the steering group includes an advisory board consisting of the developers of the WIN program and TWH concept. The advisory board will provide information about international experiences with integrated workplace interventions to assist the development of workplace health interventions in Denmark.