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Guidelines for implementing health promotion programmes within university settings outline key action areas for addressing health concerns. Further guidance is needed to help manage specific health promotion activities according to the needs and resources available to universities. Decisions about allocating resources to improve employee health depend on diverse factors such as the workplace, industry, country, and employee. A more nuanced understanding of health promotion programme implementation should help universities address the alarming rates of occupational stress reported among employees. This present study develops a taxonomy to help universities implement appropriate activities. Content analysis and interview findings highlight the importance of communication between workplaces and employees to determine the motivations for adopting health promotion activities. Collaboration between an extensive network of stakeholders will likely ensure that appropriate activities are available, supported, and implemented to target employee health concerns.

Workplace health promotion programmes (WHPPs) are more likely to succeed where design and implementation account for the influence of health's complex, systemic nature. Thus, a greater understanding of how frameworks developed to progress WHPPs are operationalized across different countries and industries is needed. This study investigates health concerns targeted in an underexplored setting—Australian universities, describing how diverse programmes are implemented to target different health issues and health risk factors. Content analysis is used to outline how Australian universities implement WHPPs to target diverse health concerns. Content from 497 website documents is collected and analysed using NVivo software. A framework for examining diverse WHPPs currently used in practice is developed. Based on this framework, it was evident that Australian universities emphasized initiatives targeting health issues focusing on 'mental health' and 'diabetes'. Regarding health risk factors, 'alcohol and other addictions', 'discrimination and harassment', and 'physical activity' were emphasized. Links between different health concerns targeted and corresponding WHPPs implemented, provide workplaces with a benchmark for designing and implementing programmes. University WHPPs targeted a diverse range of health concerns when enough legal and political motivations to do so existed. These findings about the motivations for improving employee health indicate a potential gap between health promotion benefits reported in literature and the appreciation for these benefits in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace health promotion programmes (WHPPs) are more likely to succeed where design and implementation account for the influence of health's complex, systemic nature. Thus, a greater understanding of how frameworks developed to progress WHPPs are operationalized across different countries and industries is needed. This study investigates health concerns targeted in an underexplored setting-Australian universities, describing how diverse programmes are implemented to target different health issues and health risk factors. Content analysis is used to outline how Australian universities implement WHPPs to target diverse health concerns. Content from 497 website documents is collected and analysed using NVivo software. A framework for examining diverse WHPPs currently used in practice is developed. Based on this framework, it was evident that Australian universities emphasized initiatives targeting health issues focusing on 'mental health' and 'diabetes'. Regarding health risk factors, 'alcohol and other addictions', 'discrimination and harassment', and 'physical activity' were emphasized. Links between different health concerns targeted and corresponding WHPPs implemented, provide workplaces with a benchmark for designing and implementing programmes. University WHPPs targeted a diverse range of health concerns when enough legal and political motivations to do so existed. These findings about the motivations for improving employee health indicate a potential gap between health promotion benefits reported in literature and the appreciation for these benefits in practice., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)