Maintaining employee participation in workplace health promotion programs.

This article examines the issue of maintaining participation in workplace health promotion programs. The term "maintaining participation" is defined here as both continued program attendance and maintenance of recommended behaviors. The factors associated with participation and approaches to maintaining participation are reviewed. Evidence suggests that combinations of environmental and individual approaches are necessary to address the problem of maintenance. An approach to maintaining participation is suggested that utilizes a preprogram diagnostic interview model to identify and address environmental and individual factors that may cause an employee to drop out of a program or relapse into prior behavioral patterns.