Abstract
Purpose - This study aimed to explore managers’ understanding of workplace health promotion (WHP) and experiences of WHP activity within small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in a Health and Social Care Trust area of Northern Ireland. This paper focuses on engagement with activities within the context of prevention of ill-health and health protection, lifestyle issues, and, working culture and the environment as defined in the Luxembourg Declaration on WHP (European Network for Workplace Health Promotion, 1997). Design/ methodology/ approach - A Heideggerian (1962) interpretive phenomenological methodology was adopted, using in-depth telephone interviews with a purposive sample of 18 small and medium sized enterprise managers. Data was analysed using Benner’s (1994) strategy for data analysis.Findings - ‘Levels of awareness of workplace health promotion activity’ were revealed as a central theme and interpreted as ‘high awareness activities’, including the need to (a) preserve and protect employee health and safety, (b) prevent ill-health and injury, and, (c) promote employees quality of daily living, and, ‘low awareness activities’, including the provision of training and development, human resource management, and, environmental considerations. Practical implications - A modified version of Green and Kreuter’s (1991) model advances political strategists and practitioners’ understanding of the planning process within the SME context.Originality/ value - An ‘Iceberg’ model, grounded in the data, draws attention to the limited awareness of what constitutes WHP activities and the untapped meaningfulness of organisational and environmental activities. Key wordsWorkplace health promotion, managers, SMEs, qualitativePaper typeResearch paper
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 61-76 |
| Journal | Health Education |
| Volume | 110 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - Jan 2010 |
Bibliographical note
Reference text: Antonelli, A., Baker, M., McMahon, A. and Wright, M. (2006), Six SME case studies that demonstrate the business benefit of effective health and safety management: Contract Research Report 504 prepared by Greenstreet Berman Ltd for HSE. HMSO, London.Benner, P. (1994), “The tradition and skill of interpretive phenomenology in studying health, illness, and caring practices”, in Benner, P. (Ed.), Interpretive phenomenology: embodiment, caring, and ethics in health and illness, Sage Publications, London, pp. 99-127.
Bradshaw, L. M., Curran, A. D., Eskin, F. and Fishwick, D. (2001), “Provision and perception of occupational health in small and medium-sized enterprises in Sheffield, UK”, Occupational Medicine, Vol. 50 No. 1, pp. 39-44.
Carr, E. C. J. and Worth, A. (2001), Telephone Interviews: The use of the telephone interview for research, Nursing Times Research, Vol. 6 No.1, pp. 511-524.
Davis-Kirsch, S. E. and Brandt, P. A. (2002), Telephone Interviewing: A Method to Reach Fathers in Family Research, Journal of Family Nursing, Vol. 8 No.1, pp. 73-84.
Department for Work and Pensions / Department of Health, (2008), “Improving health and work: changing lives. The Government’s response to Dame Carol Black’s Review of the health of Britain’s working-age population”, available at: http://www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/documents/improving-health-and-work-changing-lives.pdf (accessed 14th May 2009).
Department of Health, Department for Work and Pensions – Dame Carol Black, (2008), “Dame Carol’s Black’s Review of the health of Britain’s working age population: Working for a Healthier Tomorrow”, available at: http://www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/documents/working-for-a-healthier-tomorrow-tagged.pdf (accessed 14th May 2009).
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS), (2002), Investing for health, DHSSPS, Belfast.
de Witt, L. and Ploeg, J. (2006), “Methodological issues in nursing research: critical appraisal of rigour in interpretive phenomenological nursing research”, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 55 No. 2, pp. 215-29.
Eakin, J. Cava, M. and Smith, T. F. (2001), “From theory to practice: a determinants approach to workplace health promotion in small businesses”, Health Promotion Practice, Vol.2 No. 2. pp. 172-81.
European Network for Workplace Health Promotion. (1997), Luxembourg Declaration on workplace health promotion in the European Union, European Network for Workplace Health Promotion, Dormund, Germany.
European Network for Workplace Health Promotion. (2001a), Small, healthy and competitive: new strategies for improved health in small and medium-sized enterprises: report on the current status of workplace health promotion in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), BKK Federal Association, Essen, Germany.
European Network for Workplace Health Promotion. (2001b), Small, healthy and competitive – new strategies for improved health in small and medium-sized enterprises: criteria and models of good practice for workplace health promotion in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), BKK Federal Association, Essen, Germany.
European Network for Workplace Health Promotion, (2004), Healthy employees in healthy organizations report: making the case for workplace health promotion: analysis of the effects of WHP, Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Belgium.
Fudge, C. (2007), “Implementing sustainable futures in cities”, in Orme, J. Powell, J., and Taylor, P. (Eds.) Public health for the 21st century, Mc Graw Hill, Berkshire, pp. 185-202.
Green, L. W. and Kreuter, M. W. (1991), Health promotion planning: an educational and environmental approach, Mayfield Publishing, California.
Griffin, B. L., Hall, N. and Watson, N. (2005) “Health at work in small and medium sized enterprises”. Health Education, Vol. 105 No. 2, pp. 126-41.
Hämäläinen, R. M. (2007), Workplace health promotion in Europe: the role of national health policies and strategies, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki.
Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI). (2003), Working for health: a long-term workplace health strategy for Northern Ireland, HSENI, Belfast.
Heidegger, M. (1962), Being and time. Harper & Row, New York.
Johnson, M. E. (2000), Heidegger and meaning: implications for phenomenological research, Nursing Philosophy, Vol. 1 pp. 134-146.
KPMG Consulting. (2002), The cost of work related injuries, ill health and non-injury accidents to the Northern Ireland economy: Contract Research Report prepared for the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland, Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, Belfast.
Lopez, K. A. and Willis, D. G. (2004), “Descriptive versus interpretive phenomenology: their contributions to nursing knowledge”, Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 14 No.5 pp. 726-35.
Polit, D. F. and Beck, C. T. (2006), Essentials of nursing research: methods, appraisal, and utilization, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia.
Shain, M. and Kramer, D. M. (2004), “Health Promotion in the Workplace: Framing the concept: reviewing the evidence”, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 61 No. 7, pp. 643-8.
Stephens, P., Hickling, N., Gaskell, L. and Burtin, M. (2004), Occupational health and SMEs: focussed intervention strategies: Contract Research Report 257 prepared by Vectra Group Ltd for HSE. HMSO, London.
NTC Economics. (2007), Ulster Bank PMI report for Northern Ireland, NTC Research, Henly-on-Thames.
Wynne, R. (1998), A manual for training in workplace health promotion, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin.
Keywords
- Workplace health promotion
- managers
- SMEs
- qualitative research
