Community-based wellness and prevention programs have long served to address the needs of an aging population with multiple chronic diseases. Title IIID of the Older Americans Act, passed in 1987, called for the Administration on Aging (AoA) to fund “education and implementation activities that support healthy lifestyles and promote healthy behaviors (1).” AoA, now a part of the Administration ...

This article describes the current state of workplace wellness programs in the United States, including typical program components; assesses current uptake among U.S. employers; reviews the evidence for program impact; and evaluates the current use and the impact of incentives to promote employee engagement. Wellness programs have become very common, as 92 percent of employers with 200 or more ...

Burnout and depression across the career life cycle of healthcare providers are increasing at alarming rates. We need to devote our resources and efforts to bolster the next generation of healthcare providers who have the capacity for resiliency and well-being--the antidote to burnout and depression. A handful of organizations have implemented general wellness programs to combat burnout but the...

Studies of high-profile work-site wellness programs suggest a number of important advantages for sponsoring corporations. Participants report greater wellness and enhanced productivity. Objective data suggest that programs (1) chiefly attract employees with a favorable attitude toward both work and health, (2) reduce absenteeism and employee turnover, (3) produce a small increase in productivit...

Amid soaring health spending, there is growing interest in workplace disease prevention and wellness programs to improve health and lower costs. In a critical meta-analysis of the literature on costs and savings associated with such programs, we found that medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs and that absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73 for every dolla...

OBJECTIVE To review studies that have examined an association between wellness programs and improvements in quality of life and to assess the strength of the scientific evidence. DATA SOURCES A MEDLINE search was constructed with the following medical subject headings: "psychoneuroimmunology," "chronic disease" and "health promotion," "chronic disease" and "health behaviour," "relaxation tech...

By putting together a comprehensive wellness strategy, employers are not only "doing the right thing" but also are able to see, believe and maintain the tangible return on investment (ROI) that wellness programs are capable of delivering. This article discusses employers' ROI from wellness initiatives, as well as innovations that support a culture of wellness and what enhanced opportunities for...