Stanford’s 2010 health report card

In 2010, about 7,300 Stanford employees completed the Stanford Health and Lifestyle Assessment (SHALA) as part of the BeWell program. This number represents a growth in respondents from over 6,600 since the inception of program in 2008. While all personal information remains strictly confidential, the aggregate data have been compiled to provide us with a snapshot of Stanford’s health behaviors.

Based on self-reports, Stanford employees met or surpassed goals set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2010 in the areas of obesity, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. A full comparison of Stanford employees’ lifestyle behaviors with Healthy People target and baseline numbers is shown in the table below.

Additional analyses were conducted on the 4,161 employees who completed the survey in both 2008 and 2010. The results showed significant improvements over the two years in respondents’ lifestyle factors, specifically: increased physical activity, improved eating patterns, and reduced smoking. In addition, improvements were also found in respondents’ self-reported clinical risk factors of blood pressure and cholesterol measures. Unfortunately, weight status and stress reported by the Stanford employees did not show improvement from 2008 to 2010.

The BeWell Employee Incentive Program continues to encourage efforts to create a culture of wellness at Stanford, especially focusing on those areas in which faculty and staff require the most support. An emerging culture of wellness on campus is reflected in a recent survey conducted on a random sample of employees, with over 74% of the respondents indicating that it is somewhat or very important to them that their coworkers lead a healthy lifestyle. In addition, among those who acted as Wellness Advocates in 2010 (those who have committed to helping people in their community achieve better health and well-being, as one of the BeWell “berries”), approximately 84% reported that acting as a Wellness Advocate made it easier for them to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Stanford continues to strive to create a culture of wellness in our community through the provision of a variety of health and wellness resources (e.g., programs offered by the Health Improvement Program; Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation; and Work Life Office) and policy support (e.g., provision of “Well time” to enable employees to participate in the BeWell berry activities). With individual and collective efforts, we can all look forward to a healthier Stanford.

By Julie Croteau, Communications Manager