WHY WON’T THEY PARTICIPATE? BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION IN WORKSITE HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAMS by

Although research suggests that worksite health promotion (WHP) programs can be effective in enhancing employee health, 50-75% of employees choose not to participate in such programs when offered. The present study's aim is to identify the underlying barriers to participation in two distinct phases of a WHP program (web-based health risk assessment and a group workshop), using a large random sample of university employees that includes both participants and non-participants. Employees (n=1926) completed an anonymous web-based survey and reported whether they participated in each stage of the program and what the barriers to participation were. Although the results indicate that employee characteristics (such as age and gender), type of job, and employee perceptions of their health and their organization are all associated with non-participation, the magnitude and nature of these associations differ across the two phases of the WHP program. In addition, the reasons employees gave for their non-participation differed across sub-groups of employees defined by the characteristics listed above. We discuss how future research on WHP programs can build on these findings and propose a theoretical framework for participation enhancement.