Wellness Forum

Health Assessments

There are two types of health assessments available: health status questionnaires and health risk assessments. Both are great options for understanding your employee’s level of wellness. They also provide information on ways employees can improve individual health. Consider using this information to develop your worksite wellness policies or programs and motivate your employees to participate.

These assessments contain personal health information. Offer only confidential health status questionnaires or confidential health risk assessments through a third party such as:

• Northern California Center for Well-Being
• WellSource

A Health Status Questionnaire measures individual health perception such as mental/emotional health, stress level, sense of control over one’s personal health and wellness, physical pain, and lifestyle choices. The Center for Well-Being recommends that employers distribute health status questionnaires, but maintain the employees confidentiality by using a third party to collect and tally the survey results. Another option is to use the survey as a tool to encourage employees to think about personal health habits, but not collect the data.

Samples:

• Health Status Questionnaire
• 5-Minute Self Assessment

A Health Risk Assessment (or Health Risk Appraisal) is a tool that collects individual information such as medical history (blood pressure, cholesterol), family history (diabetes, heart disease), health behaviors (weekly physical activity, nutrition, substance use), and demographic information (ethnicity and gender). The Health Risk Assessment is central to health promotion programs. Using the Health Risk Assessment, you can discover risk levels, measure results, determine if a health intervention is needed, and decide what programs should be implemented to promote optimal health. Assessments also help employees manage their health care and allow companies to control their health care costs.

Sample:

• If you are planning to offer health risk assessments, we recommend using the CDC’s Healthier Worksite Initiative Checklist for Planning Employee Health Risk Appraisals to help you prepare.