Weekly Self-care for Healthcare Providers: Using a Monday Cue to Improve Healthy Behaviors Among Nurses

Background: Healthcare providers give health oriented advice and guidance to patients under their care. However, while they readily use the language of health in service of others, they do not necessarily reflect on that information when they address their own care. The Healthy Monday team collaborated with the integrative therapies professionals at Columbia University Irving Medical Center to design and market an action oriented program to persuade healthcare professionals to take their own advice and engage in healthier behaviors. The effective weekly communication strategy offered by the Healthy Monday campaign has been shown to educate individuals about the benefits of adopting and maintaining more frequent healthy behaviors. The campaign has led to reported changes in health practices in stress reduction, physical activity, and diet.

Program background: The Healthy Monday Nurses’ Wellness Program was designed to teach healthcare practitioners techniques to manage stress and improve awareness of accessible weekly health and wellness practices. The initiative was piloted at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Prior to program curation, a focus group of nurses was interviewed to gauge what elements of a weekly program would be most effective for promoting health. The interviews helped to understand which communication channels would have best reach in order to design a marketing plan that would engage them. The program delivery lasted 24 weeks, disseminated over two 12 week phases.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Health messaging was delivered across several in-house channels every Monday, including: email blasts, video monitor displays, bulletin boards in work areas, team huddles, printed signage, a dedicated website page with relaxation tool guides, and in-person lectures or experiential workshops. Practices promoted on the marketing materials included relaxation and meditation techniques, yoga, physical movement, and healthy eating recommendations.

Pre- and post-surveys were conducted via SurveyMonkey, measuring knowledge of nutrition/diet, physical activity, stress management, intentions to practice and barriers to self-care. Nurses reported being more likely to begin a weekly exercise routine (33% pre, 63% post), eat healthy (58% pre, 75% post) and manage stress better (33% pre, 50% post) on Monday. At the end of the program, respondents said the program had the effect of improving their mood for the rest of the week and reported fewer barriers to achieving health goals.

Conclusions: Preliminary data from the Healthy Monday Nurses’ Program demonstrated that the informative materials and supporting programs helped improve the participants’ knowledge of the healthcare concepts provided by the Healthy Monday program as well as a greater engagement and receptivity to the messaging provided each Monday. The program is being marketed to a larger group of nurses and hospital staff, and additional data will be collected to compare to these early results.

Implications for research and/or practice: Weekly cues, as offered by the Healthy Monday campaign, can help to successfully market a worksite wellness program while helping to educate healthcare workers about the importance of focusing on their own health. Using a communication strategy of framing Monday as a ‘fresh start’ and using weekly cues can help a busy workforce stay on target to meeting personal health goals.