Health promotion interventions in social economy companies in Flanders (Belgium).

BACKGROUND: Disadvantaged groups are often not reached by mainstream health promotion interventions. Implementing health promotion (HP) interventions in social economy companies, can be an opportunity to reach those people. The implementation of these interventions in social economy companies was studied. Factors that could be related to the implementation of HP and being supportive towards implementation in the future, were investigated. METHODS: An online, quantitative survey was sent to all 148 sheltered and social workshops in Flanders. In the questionnaire, the status of HP interventions and characteristics of the workshop were explored. Personal factors (such as attitudes towards HP, behavioural control, social norms and moral responsibility) were asked to the person responsible for implementation of HP interventions. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed. RESULTS: Respondents of 88 workshops completed the questionnaire. Almost 60% of the workshops implemented environmental or policy interventions. Having a positive attitude towards HP, being more morally responsible, and having the subjective norm that employees are positive towards health promotion at work, were related to being more supportive towards the implementation of HP in the univariate analyses. Only attitude stayed significantly related to being more supportive towards the implementation of HP in the multivariate analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Sheltered and social workshops are open to HP interventions, but more can be done to optimize the implementation. To persuade persons responsible for the implementation of HP to invest more in HP, changing attitudes concerning the benefits of health promotion for the employee and the company, is an important strategy.

Evaluation of a Brief Intervention for Promoting Mental Health among Employees in Social Enterprises: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Evidence on the effectiveness of workplace mental health promotion for people with disabilities is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief mental health promotion intervention in social enterprises. It had a non-blinded cluster randomized controlled trial design with follow-up one and four months after the intervention. In total 196 employees agreed to participate (86 intervention and 110 control). Empowerment was the main outcome; secondary outcomes were resilience, palliative behavior, determinants of four coping strategies of mental health, quality of life, and life satisfaction. A brief participant satisfaction survey was conducted after the intervention. No significant intervention effect on empowerment was found. However, at one month follow-up, significant favorable effects were found on perceived social support for coping strategies for mental health and on palliative behavior. At four months follow-up, favorable intervention effects were found on quality of life, but unfavorable effects were found on unjustified worrying. In addition, the intervention was well received by the employees. This brief intervention might be a promising first step to improve mental health in people with disabilities working in social enterprises. Nevertheless, additional monitoring by professionals and managers working in the organizations might be needed to maintain these effects.