ACSM Health & Fitness Summit

ACSM Health & Fitness Summit
March 12 – 15, 2013
Developing Wellness Champion Networks Outline

Stefan Gingerich, MS and Sarah Monley | StayWell Health Management

I. Wellness champion network introduction

a. Definition/clarification of wellness champion network for this presentation

b. Conceptual structure for wellness champion networks

i. Committee - Executives and leaders who represent key business units

ii. Liaison - Staff whose job description includes health and wellness responsibilities

iii. Champion - Volunteers who represent the wellness program among their peers and within their

households

II. Summary of research

a. Studies on face-to-face networks and influence on health

i. Spread of obesity (Christakis and Fowler, 2007 New England J of Med)

• People who gain weight increased the chances that their friends would gain weight


• Friends and relatives of the same gender had a greater influence than those of different
  gender
  ii. Tobacco cessation (Christakis and Fowler, 2008, New England J of Med)


• Smokers were more likely to be associated with other smokers


• Spouses, siblings, friends and co-workers influenced someone’s chances of being a
  smoker
  b. Gallup research on benefits of social interaction
  i. Well-being and happiness significantly higher for people who report ≥ six hours of social
  interaction per day
  ii. Worry and stress decreases significantly with ≥ six hours of social interaction in a day
  c. 2004 National Worksite Health Promotion Survey results (Linnan, et al. 2008, Am J of Pub Health)
  i. Survey of 730 companies and more than 1,500 worksite health practitioners
  ii. Assessed companies’ status with regard to Healthy People 2010 objectives
  iii. Companies with onsite staff were 10 times more likely to meet all Healthy People 2010 objectives
  d. Emerging research from StayWell (in review for publication)
  i. Analysis of 56 companies, 390,000 individuals, to assess best practices to encourage health
  coaching participation and improve risk reduction in worksite health
  ii. Results suggest that wellness champion networks strengthen the association between age and
  behavior change, such that strong networks were associated with higher risk change when they
  were implemented among older employee populations.