Facilitating and limiting factors of workplace health promotion at Rhodes University, South Africa

BACKGROUND: Workplace health promotion programs, when well designed and implemented are beneficial to both employees and their employers. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors that affect workplace health promotion initiatives intended for support staff at Rhodes University. To explore ways in which future initiatives that aim to reduce the prevalence of non-communicable diseases in the workplace may be improved. METHODS: A qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders and support staff. All interviews and focus group discussions were voice recorded and then transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were uploaded into NVivo' 10 for coding and thematic analysis. RESULTS: Key stakeholders reported that health promotion initiatives have been attempted and were advertised, however the turnout was poor. The support staff in turn, stated that past initiatives were not tailored to their health needs and they lacked context-specificity and cultural sensitivity. They also suggested improvements for future initiatives such as convenient venues and using films and short plays as a means of delivering health information. CONCLUSIONS: Based on inputs from key stakeholders and support staff, there are several factors that affect the success of health promotion initiatives in the workplace. Employees, who are the recipients of the planned initiatives, need to be involved in all stages of the planning and implementation.