Health promotion in the workplace among among sedentary workers aged 45 to 64

This presentation focuses on the Danish contribution to the EU project PROGRESS 2wards Healthy Ageing (www.progresshealthyageing.eu).

A unique model of health promotion intervention in the workplace was developed. The model was based on a combination of "the democratic health paradigm" (Jensen BB et al, 2009) and "motivational interview" (Jørgensen K F et al, 2009).
This intervention among 18 sedentary workers aged 45-64 years sought to investigate employees’ resources, concrete visions and wishes for lifestyle changes rather than providing them with information on healthy lifestyle and predefined exercises etc.
Therefore, a 12 week tailored program was initiated by focus group interviews exploring employees’ experiences of physical activity, healthy dieting and social support as well as how they described their needs, motivation and suggestions for changes in these areas.
The overall aim for the intervention was - based on the results from the interviews - to empower the employees to take action and strengthen their self-efficacy.
For data collection, baseline and follow up focus group interviews as well as a modified IPAQ questionnaire were conducted.
The model for the intervention, the content of the intervention, the results and an overall economic calculation for this way of working with health promotion will be presented.