Designing a Wellness Program Essay

1.When a health promotion specialist begins the task of designing a wellness program the first and most important step is performing a needs assessment. An important part of the needs assessment is collecting data. There are two main types of data. One is primary data. This is data that you obtain yourself from the population you intend to serve. Examples of primary data are: administer surveys by written or electronic questionnaires, telephone interviews, electronic interviews, face-to-face interviews, Delphi technique, community forums, focus groups, observation, and self assessments. This data is current and straight from the target population with specific information to answer planner’s questions. Negatives for this type of data mainly includes: cost, time, manpower. All of these methods of collecting primary data have their own unique advantages and disadvantages. However, one must examine the intangibles that are associated with each method on an individual program by p rogram basis (McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackeray, 2009). The second form of data one may obtain is termed secondary data. This is data that has already been obtained by someone else and is readily available. Sources include governmental agencies, nongovernmental agencies and organizations, and data available in the literature. Examples of governmental source data from the CDC, FDA, and others would be: census data, health and vital statistics, behavioral risk factors, and cancer statistics. Nongovernmental sources like the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and others can offer information and statistics on topics such as: cancer, heart disease, lung disease, stroke, and many more. Data from literature sources that are peer-reviewed such as Medline and ETHXWeb can be valuable tools to help identify the needs of one’s specific population. This data is generally inexpensive, easier to obtain, usually summarized, and requires less resources to collect. The largest negative to this data is it is not specifically from the target population and therefore might not be applicable one’s target population. How the data was obtained, from whom it was obtained, and a number of other variables can change how valuable data may be for one’s specific target population. Secondary data can also be a great source to help one construct survey instruments to obtain similar data that is straight from your target population (McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackeray, 2009). 2.After working for 16 years I’ve come to the conclusion that most of my colleagues and myself have fallen into two categories, overweight or obese. Unfortunately this is a statewide and a national problem. My solution is to start a walking campaign for TCC employees that will help fight obesity. The first step would be to perform a needs assessment to see if there is an actual obesity problem at my college. This would entail identifying types of information that might help me answer the question of obesity at TCC. My first action would be to contact the person in charge of employee health at TCC and see if there is any secondary data collected from the employees that would be useful for this endeavor or to see if anything similar has ever been attempted at TCC. I would also perform a literature search on walking programs and obesity. Another source of secondary data might include health screenings or other health information obtained from TCC employees. Of course this could be a problem in regards to Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). Other secondary sources that could be utilized are: the Tarrant County Public Health, Texas Department of State Health Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Healthy People.gov. All secondary data would need to be reviewed for its usefulness and how current the information is that would be utilized. Primary data would allow me to collect current data from the target population. Primary data could be collected by internet surveys, mailing surveys, telephone surveys, and organizing focus groups (Fitzhugh, 2012). The next step would be how to collect the data for the assessment. My first action would to ask some colleagues for assistance. We would then break up the work of obtaining the secondary data via the internet and making some phone calls to key personnel to see what data was available. We would obtain all the data we could from the secondary data sources stated prior. In addition, with the college’s approval, I would send out at a Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) survey via e-mail through the college’s mailing system. If needed, I would use the intercampus mail system to send out the HRA survey. I would also organize focus groups to obtain more primary data. And most importantly I would obtain information from the leaders at TCC via surveys or interviews (Fitzhugh, 2012). The third step would be the actual collection of the data. This would take organization, effort, and time. I would first need to gain approval from my superiors at the college to get time off, obtain staff, and obtain funds to collect the data. Obtaining staff might be achieved through volunteerism. Volunteers would not only assist in collecting the data, but would aid in entering and managing data. Funds might be granted from the leaders at the college from various funding sources or even from the county or state levels (Fitzhugh, 2012). The fourth step would involve analyzing the data to profile the actual needs of the TCC employees. For my program the data would need to show that there is a weight problem and that lack of exercise is a key element that could help address this health issue. This would involve organizing the data and comparing our population to the region, state, and even national levels. This would also include both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data obtained where reliability and validity would be assessed (Fitzhugh, 2012). The last step would be to prioritize and validate the needs of TCC employees. We could perform this by ranking the health issues in order of importance as reported. We could establish a Basic Priority Rating (BPR) which takes into account the size of the problem, seriousness of the problem, effectiveness of possible interventions, and lastly is the intervention doable. One additional method would be to take the data back to a focus group or advisory panel and prioritize by importance and potential for change. Through these processes we may find that there are other larger concerns for TCC employees. One could waste a lot of time, effort, and funds if a proper and thorough assessment is not completed prior to initiating a health promotion program (Fitzhugh, 2012). References Fitzhugh, E. C. (2012). mms://mediasrv1.ccs.ua.edu/CCS-AO2/HHE667-2/module4/667_Video_8.wmv McKenzie, J. F., Neiger, B. L., & Thackeray, R. (2009). Planning, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs: A primer (5th ed.). San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings.