Illinois Workplace Wellness Study

Summary

Workplace wellness programs have become a $6 billion industry and are widely touted as a way to improve employee well-being, reduce health care costs by promoting prevention, and increase workplace productivity. Yet, there is little rigorous evidence available to support these claims, partly because the voluntary nature of these programs means that participants may differ from nonparticipants for reasons unrelated to the causal effects of the wellness program. The investigators will implement a randomized control trial to identify the effects of incentives on wellness program participation, produce causal estimates of the effect of wellness programs on health outcomes, determine what kinds of employees benefit from wellness programs the most, and test for the presence of peer effects in wellness participation.

Conditions

• Employee Health and Well-being

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Workplace Wellness Program

Treatment group members will then be offered the opportunity to participate in a biometric screening and health risk assessment (biometric screening + HRA), and -- conditional on completing an biometric screening + HRA -- up to two, semester-long wellness programs. Treatment group members will be offered varying levels of cash reward for completing the biometric screening + HRA (none, moderate, high), and an additional cash reward for completing each wellness activity (low, high), for a total of 6 treatment cells. Follow-up surveys and biometric screenings will be administered one year later, among a subset of control and treatment group members.

BEHAVIORAL

Biometric Screening/HRA - No Compensation

The biometric test will measure: (1) anthropometrics such as height, weight, and waist circumference (to assess obesity and overweight status); (2) resting blood pressure (to assess hypertension); (3) blood glucose (to assess diabetes risk); and (4) total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol levels, total cholesterol ratio, and triglycerides (to assess risk of cardiovascular disease). The HRA is a survey designed to identify areas of health improvement, by asking a series of questions related to wellness, health status, nutrition, healthy activities, desire to improve health, preventative health measures. The HRA is also pre-populated with biometric information from the screening. Upon completion, participants are given customized feedback on areas of improvement. No compensation for completion.

BEHAVIORAL

Biometric Screening/HRA - Moderate Compensation

The biometric test will measure: (1) anthropometrics such as height, weight, \& waist circumference (to assess obesity and overweight status); (2) resting blood pressure (to assess hypertension); (3) blood glucose (to assess diabetes risk); \& (4) total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol levels, total cholesterol ratio, and triglycerides (to assess risk of cardiovascular disease). The HRA is a survey designed to identify areas of health improvement, by asking a series of questions related to wellness, health status, nutrition, healthy activities, desire to improve health, preventative health measures. The HRA is also pre-populated with biometric information from the screening. Upon completion, participants are given customized feedback on areas of improvement. Moderate compensation for completion.

BEHAVIORAL

Biometric Screening/HRA - High Compensation

The biometric test will measure: (1) anthropometrics such as height, weight, and waist circumference (to assess obesity and overweight status); (2) resting blood pressure (to assess hypertension); (3) blood glucose (to assess diabetes risk); and (4) total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol levels, total cholesterol ratio, and triglycerides (to assess risk of cardiovascular disease). The HRA is a survey designed to identify areas of health improvement, by asking a series of questions related to wellness, health status, nutrition, healthy activities, desire to improve health, preventative health measures. The HRA is also pre-populated with biometric information from the screening. Upon completion, participants are given customized feedback on areas of improvement. High compensation for completion.

BEHAVIORAL

Wellness Activities - Low Compensation

Courses are designed by the UI Wellness Center and include an Active Living class; self-paced online health challenges in physical activity, weight management, and healthy eating; a weight management class; a tobacco cessation hotline; a stress management class; a Tai Chi class; and a chronic disease management class. Low compensation for each class.

BEHAVIORAL

Wellness Activities - High Compensation

Courses are designed by the UI Wellness Center and include an Active Living class; self-paced online health challenges in physical activity, weight management, and healthy eating; a weight management class; a tobacco cessation hotline; a stress management class; a Tai Chi class; and a chronic disease management class. High compensation for each class.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Chicago

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  collaborator NIH

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

  collaborator OTHER

• W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Damon Jones, PhD · University of Chicago

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-07-11

Primary Completion

2020-12-31

Completion

2020-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations