\u27Your Heart Can\u27t Wait\u27 -- A worksite program: Increasing the effectiveness of worksite coordinators to implement a community-wide health education program

A worksite health education program called “Your Heart Can\u27t Wait,” was designed by the American Heart Association Gulf Coast Area (AHA). The objectives were to educate individuals about the signs and symptoms of heart attacks and the actions they should take to improve heart attack victims\u27 chances for survival. AHA volunteers agreed to serve as mentors for this program. A study was designed to determine if worksite coordinators who had the assistance of experienced AHA volunteers had higher rates of program adoption and implementation than worksite coordinators without assistance. Ninety-seven companies participated in the study. Twelve AHA volunteers were randomly assigned to work with forty-three of the worksite coordinators. Mentor/mentee contact forms were used to assess the mentoring process during the course of the study. Program adoption forms were used to measure rates of program adoption and follow-up questionnaires were used to measure rates of program implementation after the study was completed. The twelve mentors were interviewed to provide information for improving future mentoring efforts. Thirty-eight companies completed program adoption forms and fifty-one companies reported using YHCW program components. For the most part, the volunteer mentors did not spend a significant amount of time contacting or working with their assigned worksite coordinators. As a result, the planned analysis comparing the implemented programs between worksite coordinators with and without assistance could not be completed. Additional analyses were performed comparing the implemented programs based upon whether the companies had existing health education/health promotion programs and whether the worksite coordinators had experience using AHA Heart At Work program components. Recommendations based on the mentor interviews were made to improve the success of volunteer assistance programs in the future