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Realist evaluation seeks to answer the question of “what works for whom in which circumstances?” through developing and testing middle range theories (MRTs). MRTs are programme theories that outline how certain mechanisms of an intervention work in a specific context to bring about certain outcomes. In this paper, the authors tested an initial MRT about the mechanism of participation. The authors used evidence from a participatory organisational intervention in five worksites of a large multi-national organisation in the US food service industry.

Qualitative data from 89 process tracking documents and 24 post-intervention, semi-structured interviews with intervention stakeholders were analysed using template analysis.

The operationalised mechanism was partial worksite managers’ engagement with the research team. Six contextual factors (e.g. high workload) impaired participation, and one contextual factor (i.e. existing participatory practices) facilitated participation. Worksite managers’ participation resulted in limited improvement in their awareness of how working conditions can impact on their employees’ safety, health, and well-being. Based on these findings, the authors modified the initial MRT into an empirical MRT.

This paper contributes to the understanding of “what works for whom in which circumstances” regarding participation in organisational interventions.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a statewide assessment of worksite health promotion (WHP) programs to identify the number of comprehensive programs and the health needs of worksites in Kentucky.

A random sample of 1,200 worksites in Kentucky was selected to receive the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Worksite Health ScoreCard to collect cross-sectional information on their health promotion practices.

Few worksites in Kentucky have WHP programs and even fewer have comprehensive programs. More businesses rely on health insurance to treat chronic diseases than WHP programs to reduce chronic diseases. Small companies were less likely than larger companies to have WHP programs and less likely to have intentions of starting a program.

The response rate of 37 percent was a potential threat to external validity. Respondents had to recall activities conducted during the past 12 months, which could have led to recall bias. Response bias was a potential, as many of the respondents were human resources personnel who may not be as familiar with WHP programs in their worksites. Lastly, four sections of the survey had yet to be validated.

WHP programs, if accessible and comprehensive, have the potential to improve the working population’s health status.

Very little information on the availability and effectiveness of health promotion programs at worksites is available. A statewide assessment on WHP programs has never been conducted in Kentucky.

The purpose of this paper is to review national experiences and policy initiatives within worksite eating in four Nordic countries, in order to compare the experiences and identify important lessons and needs for future research, experiments and governmental regulation.

The paper is based on national reviews of analyses of worksite eating and initiatives regarding policy, research and experiments in relation to worksite eating. The national experiences are compared.

The paper shows awareness in all four countries about the role of the worksite in the shaping of dietary habits of the employees and some experiments with healthier worksite eating schemes. Blue‐collar employees, employees with working hours outside normal working hours and employees with shifting worksites are likely to be offered less organised and less healthy food schemes. Worksites' experiments with healthier worksite eating schemes based on employee participation can change worksite eating substantially, including at blue‐collar worksites. However, the generalising of findings to other worksites not participating in the experiments seems limited. There is need for more research in the embedding of experiments.

The paper has value as the first cross‐national review covering four of the Nordic countries in the area of worksite eating and attempts to create healthier worksite eating. By combining research findings and policy initiatives from four countries, the paper gives access to a big pool of knowledge, which can inspire future research and policy initiatives, including future experiments and future governmental regulation.

This study aims to examine the availability of worksite canteens to Finnish employees, and the associations between canteen availability and the employee's sociodemographic background and workplace characteristics. A further aim was to study the employees’ lunch place choices according to the sociodemographic factors of the employees and the characteristics of the workplace when a worksite canteen is available.

Data were obtained from cross‐sectional health surveys among Finnish adults in 2005‐2007. A total of 2,659 male and 2,926 female employed Finns – except farmers – ranging in age from 19 to 64 were chosen for the analyses from the surveys. The data were analyzed by multiple logistic regression models.

A worksite canteen was available for 70 percent of female and 60 percent of male employees, and more often to employees with higher education and in a higher occupational class and to those working at bigger workplaces. If a canteen was not available, employees mostly ate packed lunches. Roughly 50 percent of those who had a worksite canteen available ate there; employees in a higher occupational class did so more often than the others. Even when a canteen was available, people with lower education or in a lower occupational class preferred packed lunches.

The frequency of using worksite canteens could be influenced not only by means related to individual choices, but also by improving the structural conditions at work – like unavailability of worksite canteen – that is found to pose barrier to canteen use.

No previous study of this kind has been done, even though it has been observed that worksite canteen meals are important for the nutrition, health, and productivity of Finnish employees.

The paper seeks to describe the evolution of an integrated approach to health and productivity management that combines the disciplines of worksite health promotion and occupational safety and health, and to offer advice on how to implement such an integrated approach.

The paper takes the form of a review of the literature, focusing on the psychological, organizational, and human capital models that must be integrated for successful health and productivity management.

The first integrated health, safety, and productivity model was presented by DeJoy and Southern in 1993. However, occupational safety and health and worksite health promotion professionals view the workplace in different ways (from psychological and public health orientations, respectively) that may result in siloed work environments. Better communication and collaboration across these disciplines is essential for success. That can be fostered by adopting a human capital framework that views the health and safety of employees as essential ingredients for a healthy and productive work force. A practical approach for successful health and productivity management uses integrated data to investigate where challenges to worker health and safety can be found. This is followed by strategic and tactical planning to address these challenges. Programs that address problems at all levels (individual, organizational, environmental) are then adopted, followed by formal, rigorous, and continuous monitoring and evaluation.

The concept of integrated health and productivity management is new but is now being adopted by many organizations. Worksite health promotion and occupational safety and health professionals can work together to make substantial improvements to the quality of employees' lives and the economic and social health of the organizations where they practice.

It is widely acknowledged that norms and culture influence decisions related to information security. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how work-related groups influence information security policy compliance intentions and to what extent this influence is captured by the Theory of Planned Behavior, an established model over individual decision-making.

A multilevel model is used to test the influence of work-related groups using a cluster sample of responses from 2,291 employees from 203 worksites, 119 organizations, 6 industries and 38 professions.

The results suggest that work-related groups influence individuals’ decision-making in the manner in which contemporary theories of information security culture posit. However, the influence is weak to modest and overshadowed by individual perceptions that are straightforward to measure.

This paper is limited to one national culture and four types of work-related groups. However, the results suggest that the Theory of Planned Behavior captures most of the influence that work-related groups have on decision-making. Future research on security culture and similar phenomena should take this into account.

Information security perceptions in work-related groups are diverse and information security decisions appear to be based on individual perceptions and priorities rather than groupthink or peer-pressure. Security management interventions may be more effective if they target individuals rather than groups.

This paper tests some of the basic ideas related to information security culture and its influence on individuals’ decision-making.

There is a clear link between dietary behavior and a range of chronic diseases, and overweight and obesity constitute an indirect risk in relation to these diseases. The worksite is a central venue for influencing dietary behavior. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of workplace influences on workers' dietary patterns.

The paper reviews the evidence of the effectiveness of dietary health promotion, and provides a brief overview of appropriate theoretical frameworks to guide intervention design and evaluation. The findings are illustrated through research examples.

Through case studies and published research, it is found that workplace dietary interventions are generally effective, especially fruit and vegetable interventions. There is less consistent evidence on the long‐term effectiveness of workplace weight management interventions, underscoring the need for further research in this area. This paper also reports evidence that changes in the work environment, including through health and safety programs, may contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of workplace health promotion, including dietary interventions. Organizational factors such as work schedule may also influence dietary patterns. The social ecological model, the social contextual model and political process approach are presented as exemplar conceptual models that may be useful when designing or assessing the effects of workplace health promotion.

The paper shows that using the worksite as a setting for influencing health by influencing dietary patterns holds considerable promise and may be instrumental in reducing workers' risk of developing chronic diseases.

Increasing obesity rates and health care costs have prompted worksites to investigate interventions to improve employee health. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of worksite cafeteria interventions on fruit and vegetable (F/V) consumption.

This review was guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses method. After a thorough literature search and screening process, 18 studies were included in the review. Data were extracted, and a risk of bias assessment was created for the primary studies. An un-weighted average was used to determine the overall ranking for each study.

There appears to be a moderately strong association toward a positive impact of cafeteria interventions to increase F/V consumption. Of the 18 studies in the review, 13 reported a statistically significant increase, one reported a significant decrease, three reported mixed results, and one did not assess a change in consumption.

Most of the data were self-reported and is subject to error. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of study design, method, and outcome measures among the studies warrants additional research with consistent methodology.

A positive impact on F/V consumption may be realized by the following techniques: price-point subsidies, point-of-purchase materials, and menu modification.

This new information on increasing F/V consumption in workplace cafeterias may improve employee health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.

The purpose of this study is to determine results of an environmental approach to improving employee health status in a government employer setting.

This is an observational study of one worksite and its employees from 2005 to 2007. Environmental interventions were part of the worksite environment, accessible, and applicable to employees regardless of health status. Outcomes were: change in the worksite environment using the Heart Check assessment, change in employee health risks using health risk appraisals (HRAs) and change in hours of sick time. The eligible population included active employees from 2005 to 2007 (n=2,276).

The Heart Check score increased by 26 percentage points. Despite aging of HRA participants, results showed maintenance of risk status with a non‐significant increase in percent at low risk (51.6 percent to 53.1 percent). Percent at high risk had a non‐significant decrease (21.1 percent to 20.2 percent). The three‐month average for hours of sick time decreased from 12.7 to 11.6 hours (p=0.03) for the larger eligible population.

This paper offers qualitative information for others seeking to implement population‐based health promotion interventions. This particular setting presented challenges related to union and non‐union regulations, sub‐contractors, and multiple administrative levels. Quantitatively, change of health risks and absenteeism serves as a reference to others engaging in workplace health promotion.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the socio-economic determinants of employment in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) at both household and individual level. My results show that there is no discrimination in provision of employment to backward classes. Out of all the Indian States, J&K has lowest female participation in the scheme. My results show that women are discriminated against in provision of employment. Worksite facilities, like creche, can positively affect female participation in the scheme.

The author uses multi-variate OLS regression model to analyse the data collected through primary survey of three heterogenous villages of district Ganderbal of J&K.

The author finds clear evidence of discrimination against females in provision of employment along with slight evidence of elite capture of the scheme. The author also finds negative relationship between the number of children in a household and the number of workdays which highlights the importance of worksite facilities to increase female and overall participation for the scheme to be successful.

The possible limitation could be small sample size but given that this is the first study of its kind in the J&K State, researchers can build up on it.

This is one of the first research papers which looks at the performance of MGNREGS in J&K in such detail. No comprehensive study of this magnitude and rigour has been undertaken in J&K till now.