Hospital Health Promotion: Swimming or Sinking in an Upstream Business?

Abstract

Healthy People 2000 (HP 2000) calls on hospitals to offer health promotion programs addressing priority health needs of the community. Historically, this upstream initiative has not been present in health care. With the increasing provision of these programs, this case study examined their content to further understand potential public health impact. The health promotion programs offered to the community–both the general public and corporate employees–by an urban Midwest hospital were assessed over 1 year. This article presents a content analysis of 216 programs that was conducted by measuring seven variables: target group, presentation format, fee, health focus, program providers, contact frequency, and activity. Based on this single case study, hospitals appear to be addressing objectives set forth by HP 2000 for community hospitals. Although moving upstream with health promotion, an analysis of program content suggests modifications may be necessary in order to serve as effective interventions for health priorities.