QTIP,

Obviously one of the goal of a corporate wellness program is to get people active, and as they get active they may like more of a fitness (or functional) based assessment rather than the standard health based assessment.

This can definitely be done and may assist in offering those younger or more active employees a suitable assessment option.

The downside to offering this assessment is that you may not get a full health profile, which may have a negative impact on the monitoring of your long term company health status tracking. However, the benefits of the fitness assessment may outweigh this negative as it might get more people into your program. Additionally, you may have a more comprehensive assessment that covers both the health and fitness aspects.

For example, FitSense offers three types of comprehensive assessments:
- LifeCheck - health based assessment with consultation;
- FitCheck - fitness/functional based assessment with consultation;
- Executive Assessment - combination of the above.

Obviously the executive assessment is going to be the most effective in achieving everyone's needs as well as getting a full profile for long term monitoring; however, the downside is that it is more time consuming and costly. I think this is where a company's priorities will determine the best option.

One major aspect of any assessment, is the accompanying consultation and action plan which the exercise physiologist develops with the participant. This is the key to making successful lifestyle change and helping the individual participant achieve their goals.

I hope this helps.

Ben

We currently run assessments in the workplace but they are more of a traditional health measure (cholesterol, blood glucose). They have been invaluable for assessing the health risks of our employees but we are getting a larger demand for more physical assessments (young and old wanting some functional feedback, because they are already active). I assume they exist, we don't just want PT sessions but something measurable. Is one going to have better health outcomes for the organisation than the other? I guess the costs involved with a physical assessment would far outweigh a more traditional assessment??

Any info would be helpfull