Planning a programme to motivate employees

Dr. Catherine Woods Senior LecturerSchool of Health and Human Performance

Active@work conference

17th June, 2008Catherine.Woods@dcu.ie

Outline

HEPA Determinants Motivation Behaviour Change

Part 1

Health Enhancing Physical Activity

“any bodily movement that is produced by

the skeletal muscles that results in energy

expenditure”

(Caspersen et al., 1985)

Physical Activity

Active Living

Types of Physical Activity

Competitive Sport

Structured Exercise

Booth et al., J Appl Physiol 2000cc

Professor, Dept of Biomedical SciencesSchool of MedicineUniversity of Missouri-Columbia

“With the possible exception of diet we know of no single intervention with

greater promise than physical activity to reduce the risk of virtually all chronic

diseases simultaneously”

What the Experts Say!What the Experts Say!

HEPA recommendations

requencyMost days of the week

ntensityMVPA

ime30+ minutes accumulated PA

ypeSport, Exercise or Active Living.

(ACSM, 2008, Guidelines for promoting PA with older adults)

HEPA recommendations

Muscle Conditioning Twice weekly 10 to 15 repetitions 8-10 muscle

strengthening exercises using major muscle groups

Flexibility Exercises for 10 mins x 2

week

(ACSM, 2008, Guidelines for promoting PA with older adults)

Part 2

How active are we?

% of adults doing no exercise in an average week by gender and year (1998, 2002, 2007).

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

(%)

Men Women

199820022007

(SLAN, 2008)

Low <5,000, Moderate 5-10,000 and High >10,000 steps per day

Low26%

High26%

Moderate48%

(SLAN, 2008)

Part 5

Understanding Motivation

Build support for your programme

Organisational Goals

Typically recruit only 20% of employees

10% are retained within the programme within 6 months

Stage of Organisational ReadinessStage Action

Not Interested Sell the concept or wait

Interested in concept; not sure it will work

Feasibility study

Sold on the concept Needs assessment

Impatient for the programme

Implement quickly

O’Donnell, Design of Workplace Health Promotion Programmes, 1995

Foster a more positive attitude to PA

Create a social norm for good health and good health habits

Move the most unmotivated individuals close to adopting some PA or @ least thinking about becoming PA in the near future.

Employers support is NB

If not…

Schedule a home-based PA programme from the workplace.

Active@Work?

The individual Perspective

Physical Activity: Why we do, why we don’t… Motivation through feelings of control

Everything’s under control

Motivation through feelings of competence and confidence I think I can, I think I can, I know I can…

Stage-based models of physical activity Moving from thinking to doing…

(Biddle & Mutrie (2008) Psychology of Physical Activity, Routledge).

Before you begin Physical Readiness…

“For most people, a medical exam or stress test is not required before increasing moderate-intensity physical activities”