6_IMPLEMENTING A HEALTH

EDUCATION PLAN
 Once assessment and planning have been
completed, the next step is implementing
the strategies and interventions that will
comprise the workplace health program.

 Program implementation involves all the

steps needed to put health promotion
strategies and interventions into place and
make them available to an individual, family
and community.
 Implementation means to carry out. It is
the act of converting your planning,
goals, objectives and strategies into
action.
 It is converting your planned activities
into action — according to a plan of
work.
 Examples of Implementation:
 Conducting health education activities
at a community gathering, or during
home visits.
 Carrying out health education
activities.
IMPLEMENT A COMBINATION OF STRATEGIES AND INTERVENTIONS

It is important for the overall workplace health program to contain a combination

of individual and organizational level strategies and interventions to influence
health, including:

1. Health-related Programs – opportunities available to employees at the

workplace or through outside organizations to begin, change or maintain
health behaviors.
2. Health-related Policies – are formal or
informal written statements that are designed to
protect or promote employee health.
 Supportive workplace health policies affect
large groups of workers simultaneously and
make adopting healthy behaviors much
easier.
 They can also create and foster a company
culture of health.
3. Health Benefits – part of an
overall compensation package
including health insurance
coverage and other services or
discounts regarding health
4. Environmental Support –
refers to the physical factors
at and nearby the workplace
that help protect and
enhance employee health.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION
1. Health education activities should
enhance the overall goal of the health
promotion and disease prevention
program.
2. Materials developed for health education
programs must be culturally appropriate
and tailored to the target populations to
ensure cultural competence.
3. In rural communities, this means
addressing cultural and linguistic
differences, and addressing potential
barriers to health promotion and disease
prevention in rural areas.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION
4. There must be an integration of well-
planned curricula and materials that take
place in a setting convenient for
participants.
5. Presentation of information with
audiovisual and computer based
supports such as slides and projectors,
videos, books, CDs, posters, pictures,
websites, or software programs.
6. Ensuring proficiency of program staff,
through training, to maintain fidelity to
the program model.
COMMON IMPLEMENTATION
CHALLENGES
 
1. Resources and sustainability:
 Funding, technological, and human
resources are typically limited in rural
communities.
 It can be particularly difficult to
generate enough start-up funds to
sustain the program as it begins.
 Having a network of stakeholders and
partners in the community may be
beneficial for providing resources and
support for a program.
Common Implementation Challenges
2. Geographic limitations:
 Geography influences a number of factors that can challenge program
implementation and operations (e.g., isolation and weather).
 Depending on the type of program, setting, frequency of participation, and
type of activities involved, these challenges can become significant.
 This becomes a particularly important issue when there is limited
transportation access for the target population.
 This requires changes in approaches and program design that take into
account lengthy travel times, availability of transportation, and opportunity to
offer the program remotely or through other technologies.
 
Common Implementation Challenges
3. Recruiting staff:
 Rural communities that are
implementing rural health programs that
require physicians, dietitians, or
physical therapists for example have
faced barriers to recruiting
appropriately trained staff.
 Some programs work with volunteer or
retired practitioners, or students.
4. Hard-to-reach populations:
 The priority population may be highly mobile.
For example, one rural health program was
striving to provide care to two hard-to-reach
populations:
i. Hispanic poultry workers and migrant farm
workers. These populations travel from
camp to camp during different times each
year, making it challenging to reach them.
ii.Several rural health programs use mobile
vans to provide traveling health services.
 
5. Cultural and social issues:
 A number of challenges to program success arise out of unique cultural and social
norms that influence expectations about the program and its likelihood of success.
 Examples of these types of issues include:
i. Deeply rooted traditions and cultures around food
ii.Lack of trust for medical professionals and outsiders
iii.Social beliefs around certain behaviors
1.It is critical for program implementers to make a conscious effort to
recognize and understand the population their program will serve, so they
can develop appropriate strategies.
2.Involving members from the target population throughout the whole process
can help achieve cultural competency, encourage participation, and reduce
social stigmas. Implementers also may need to adapt materials, such as
information packets, to ensure all program materials are culturally
appropriate.
6. Language:
 Rural health programs may target
communities with a large Hispanic or
immigrant population.
 Such programs need to ensure that
their staff understands the importance
of providing services or public health
education in a culturally appropriate
manner.
 programs may need to either employ
staff proficient in Spanish or other
languages.
7. Keeping the community motivated:
 Regardless of the community and populations
targeted in the program efforts, an awareness
of health concerns needs to exist and
individual and organizational commitments are
necessary toward making the changes
needed to address those concerns.

 It’s important for program planners to

understand that success will depend on
conducting education and outreach efforts to
determine community members’ expectations
about program impact and to motivate them to
achieve better health outcomes.