Does Workplace Health Promotion Decrease Medical Claims ?

We examined the relationship between workplace health promotion and medical claims in 38 textile plants, considering also the effects of demographic and contextual variables (i.e., average worker age, sex ratio, racial composition, plant product, and access to medical services). Number of claims per worker varied threefold among plants but was independent of plant workforce’s sex ratio, racial composition, and access to medical services. Worker age predicted claims; in a linear regression model, age, sex, race, plant product, and access explained 23% of variance in claims. Health promotion was also related to claims, and its inclusion in the model (with interaction terms involving plant product) explained 54% of variance in claims, with the deletion of race, sex, and access from the reduced model. We concluded that effective health promotion must address the contexts of different types of plant product.