PRIVATE UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES’ AWARENESS, PERCEPTION AND UTILISATION OF WORK HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAMME: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: Despite the well-documented benefits of work health promotion programmes (WHPPs) in reducing non-communicable diseases and their risk factors, the services are under-utilised. The study assesses private university employees’ awareness, perception and utilisation of WHPP and identifies the factors influencing WHPP utilisation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among employees of five private universities using an online self-administered questionnaire. The independent variables were predisposing factors (age, gender, marital status, race, education, job classification and years of working), enabling factors (awareness, perception, financial and organisational factors) and need factors (perceived, evaluated health status and health risk factors) while the dependent variable was WHPP utilisation. Results were analysed using IBM SPSS Version 28. Results: The proportion of 161 respondents with high WHPP awareness, positive perception and high utilisation was respectively 57.8%, 55.0% and 50.9% . Education level (OR: 0.428, 95%CI: 0.214-0.860), awareness (OR: 6.13, 95%CI: 3.060-12.281) and no transportation (OR: 5.286, 95%CI: 1.7-16.433) were associated with utilisation. Awareness (OR: 5.953, 95%CI: 2.859-12.396) and no transportation (OR: 5.286, 95%CI: 1.7 - 16.433) best predicted WHPP utilisation. Conclusion: The actual employees’ WHPP utilisation was low despite having a high level of WHPP awareness and positive perception. Enabling factors were the predictors of WHPP utilisation. Keywords: knowledge, attitude, engagement, occupational health services