Caution must therefore be exercised in interpreting results , but the case for investment in parenting and health visitor-related programmes appears most strong , especially when impacts beyond the health sector are taken into account .
In the workplace an economic return on investment in a number of comprehensive workplace health promotion programmes and stress management projects ( largely in the USA ) was reported , while group-based exercise and psychosocial interventions are of potential benefit to older people .
A Novel Stress and Coping Workplace Program Reduces Illness and Healthcare Utilization
Objective The purpose of this study was to determine if a novel workplace stress management program , delivered either face-to-face or by self-help , would reduce  illness and health services utilization among participants . Methods Five hundred one volunteers were r and omly allocated to one of three groups : full intervention , which received assessment and personalized self- study feedback and was offered six face-to-face , small-group sessions ; partial intervention , a self-help group that received assessment and personalized feedback by mail ; and a wait-list control group . All participants completed question naires for stress , anxiety , and coping at the start of the study and 6 and 12 months later . Health reports were completed at 0 , 3 , 6 , 9 , and 12 months . A sub sample of subjects who subscribed to a single health maintenance organization provided objective ly recorded doctor visit data across the study year . Results All three groups reported significant improvement in their stress , anxiety , and coping across the year . Full intervention participants showed a more rapid reduction in negative responses to stress than did participants from the other groups . Full-intervention subjects also reported fewer days of illness than subjects in the other groups . Objective ly measured physician visits showed a large ( 34 % ) reduction in healthcare utilization for full intervention subjects in the HMO sub sample . Conclusions These results indicated that a work-site program that focuses on stress , anxiety , and coping measurement along with small-group educational intervention can significantly reduce illness and healthcare utilization
Caution must therefore be exercised in interpreting results , but the case for investment in parenting and health visitor-related programmes appears most strong , especially when impacts beyond the health sector are taken into account .
In the workplace an economic return on investment in a number of comprehensive workplace health promotion programmes and stress management projects ( largely in the USA ) was reported , while group-based exercise and psychosocial interventions are of potential benefit to older people .