April 20, 2017
Podcast: Wellness programs – do they work?
Michael Joyce is a multimedia producer at HealthNewsReview.org and tweets as @mlmjoyce
Wellness programs in the United States are an $8 billion industry.
Over 50 million Americans are enrolled in such programs. They are as variable in size and quality as the companies and organizations that offer them.
In this podcast you’ll hear 3 voices:
- A skeptic who thinks the vast majority of these programs don’t work and may even be harmful.
- A professor who helped bring down a program that illustrated what a wellness program should not be.
- A health policy specialist who explains why it’s so difficult to gauge whether wellness programs are really working or not.
Some resources:
- A list of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Screening Guidelines
- A 2014 paper from Ron Goetzel, PhD of Johns Hopkins asserting that wellness programs do work.
- A 2014 article from the New York Times, and a 2016 article from Slate asserting that wellness programs don’t work.
You can find all our podcasts HERE.
Comments (2)
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Andrew DePristo
April 22, 2017 at 6:56 amI listed to this podcast and really didn’t hear anything that indicates these programs could be harmful to one’s health except some offhand comment about people losing and then regaining weight. If one eliminates the problem at Penn State (i.e., intrusive questions and coerced participation) and doesn’t try to measure whether each program is good for all people, doesn’t the fact that the programs push the 3 M’s (mediterranean, movement, moderation in eating) mean that the participants have to benefit? What possible harm can come from such a wellness program?
Gary Schwitzer
April 22, 2017 at 7:43 amAndrew,
Thanks for your note.
The focus of the podcast – and the headline of the surrounding blog post – was “do they work?” – not “are they harmful?” And I don’t believe there was a single reference to the point you raise – “these programs could be harmful to one’s health.”
However, in the body of the podcast, was this section, capturing some of the beliefs of Al Lewis – one of 3 people interviewed in the podcast:
There are legitimate questions about whether these programs work – especially in the ways that they are promoted. So there is potential harm in devoting time and money and institutional or corporate commitment to programs that may not deliver all that is promised.
Gary Schwitzer
Publisher, HealthNewsReview.org
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like