Worksite wellness programs and lifestyle behaviors.

Do employees who participate in worksite wellness programs differ from those who do not? What health-related lifestyle behaviors are practiced most frequently by which employees? A descriptive, correlational, comparative design was used to investigate these questions. Four hundred employees at a large public university were selected through stratified random sampling to complete a demographic sheet and the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP). Study findings revealed that men used self-actualization and exercise behaviors more frequently than women. Women practiced more health responsibility behaviors than men. Employees who were members of the wellness program more frequently practiced health responsibility and exercise behaviors than nonmembers. Overall, wellness program members used a greater number of the total health-related behaviors than other employees. Membership in the wellness program and the number of times per week a person exercised explained 21% of the variance in the HPLP scores.