Workplace health promotion (WHP)—overview: A literature review of evaluated interventions (2000–2020)

Abstract

Background: For quality assurance and further development of workplace health promotion measures (WHP), it is of interest to obtain an overview of scientifically studied health promotion measures over the last two decades. Objective: This review analyses scientifically evaluated WHP measures from the years 2000–2020 with the help of the thematic fields used in practice by the GKV-Spitzenverband (German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds) for the thematic developments, the benefits, but also the weaknesses for transferability into practice. Methods: A systematic literature review for publications between 2000 and 2020 was performed in two electronic databases. Results: In all, 41 articles met the inclusion criteria. Most of the WHP measures implemented and evaluated in the studies were not individual measures but represented programs. In them, several thematic fields were addressed simultaneously. Overall, the WHP measures examined in the studies were very heterogeneous. Towards the end of the study period, the number of publications increased. Conclusion: Except for one topic area, the health promotion and prevention topic areas specified in the prevention guidelines are represented in a balanced manner. The studies on health promotion measures are often difficult to understand in terms of the didactics and methodology used and are therefore difficult to transfer to organizational practice.