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FitFeud Corporate Wellness Blog
An Outbreak of Wellness: Stalking the Viral Cause - Part 2
This is a guest post by Bob Merberg. Bob is the founder and host of the Employee Wellness Network (tEWN™), a social media website for professionals on the leading edge of corporate health and wellness program development. The author of The Health Seeker's Handbook, Bob has been helping employers deliver effective worksite wellness programs for more than 20 years. He currently serves as Wellness Program Manager for a Fortune 500 company that is nationally recognized for its innovative approach and proven effectiveness.
This is the second post of a two part series. Read An Outbreak of Wellness: Stalking the Viral Cause - Part 1.
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According to researchers Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, health-related behaviors and disorders that may spread within socail networks include headaches, itches, fatigue, complying with medical advice, back pain, and seeking preventive medical care. They cite one study, for example, that found that you are 8.3% more likely to get a flu shot if an additional 10% of your friends got a flu shot.
This is complex stuff, and I can't begin to spell out all the details here. Delve in to this work by reading the book or, for starters, view Christakis' Ted Talk.
For now, here are some potential considerations related to “connectedness” critical to employers and other stakeholders committed to wellness:
- The idea of connectedness shouldn't be viewed as disempowering – as if everyone's fate is ruled by the herd. Fowler, in an NPR interview, points out that participants, if they understand that their actions affect the behavior of many others, will be more motivated to change out of a sense of social responsibility.
- As employers nationwide gear up to target the wellness of employees' families, recognize that family health improves via the network when the health of employees is targeted. On the other hand, targeting the family may also influence employees. Either way, you can foster intrinsic motivation within this family “cluster” via the social network and shouldn't feel like the only recourse is to cough up incentives for resentful spouses.
- Targeting potential clusters within networks may be a fast track to an outbreak of wellness. Smokers, as described above, are one example. Brainstorm where other clusters might be found within your employee population. Break rooms? Cafeterias? Specific workgroups?
- Can social media websites be used as a means to influence the flow of health through the social network connections? Fowler and Christakis note that Facebook friends are not necessarily genuine friends in a network. But there may be untapped potential to use more niche social media to help facilitate the flow of health. FitFeud is a perfect example (I don't work for and am not paid by FitFeud).
- Speaking about FitFeud (did I mention that I don't work for them?), the very concept of friendly, team-based competitions is a perfect example of working the network.
- One of the leading providers of integrated wellness services recently touted results of a study that demonstrated that health coaching has an effect not just on participants, but on nonparticipants, as well. And this effect is reflected in terms of reduced health risk and reduced costs. Each 1% increase in coaching participation rates leads to an average decrease in expected medical claims costs of $39.49 per employee, including a $14.74 decrease per uncoached employee. On average, each person impacted by coaching had an affect on 2.5 people around them.
- One unexpected conclusion from the health coaching study above is that the influence of social networks may undermine strategies to prove the impact of an intervention by comparing participants to nonparticipants. Nonparticipating employees are affected by interventions, too, and don't represent a valid control group.
Christakis and Fowler emphasize the unlimited potential of network based health interventions, especially in the workplace. “For every dollar we spend on improving the health of an employee,” they conclude, “we also improve the health of that employee's relatives, coworkers, friends, and even their friends of friends. And, in the case of employers or insurers, this can be especially important since roughly two thirds of workplace health costs are related to health problems in spouses and other dependents of workers.”
And this, they note, “substantially increases the return on the investment.” That's a message that can spread like wildfire through the social network commonly known as...top brass.
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