Wellness Library : Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals
Posted in Corporate Wellness, Wellness Library | By admin | Tags: Corporate Wellness, health, medical, Wellness Library
Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals, are an assessment tool or questionnaire scientifically designed to identify health risks and outline information to help people in making healthy changes that impact their health and prevent chronic disease.
Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments have four standard elements in worksite settings:
• A Questionnaire
• A Computerized Program to Evaluate Health Risk Factors
• Confidential Individual Reports
• Group Summary Report
Employees complete a lifestyle questionnaire that includes for example nourishment practices, height and weight, exercise habits, family history, stress perceptions, smoking history, and work satisfaction. Another valuable feature to consider is readiness to change questions to determine participation interest. Including health screenings such as cholesterol and Blood Pressure (BP) results increases the benefits of an Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment by providing a more accurate health assessment and therefore improving lifestyle choice decisions and program options. Nevertheless, it is valuable to determine if the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment can be used without including this information.
The health risk questionnaire information is entered into a computer program and an individual confidential report is generated that summarizes health risks as well as information on how to reduce risk factors. Individual reports are fully confidential. Depending on the reason for implementing the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, it’s significant to consider the type of report the employer will receive as well. A group report summarizing major risk factors and recommendations for programs to enable in order to reduce employee and employer risks supplies significant information for your wellness program.
The Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) are able to be used to:
• Raise awareness to individual employee’s health status
• Encourage workers to make healthier lifestyle changes
• Coach elevated-risk employees
• Create Worksite Wellness Programs based on the identified needs
• Evaluate program success by comparing Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) completed at set intervals such as yearly.
Tags: Corporate Wellness, health, medical, Wellness Library