Degree Name
Master of Science
Graduate Program
Kinesiology
Advisor
Partridge, Julie
Abstract
With longer workdays and the ever-growing technological base of society, inactivity and poor diet have become a staple in western civilization (Sharma & Majumdar, 2009). Between meeting the demands of work, family, and other responsibilities that may intrude on a day-to-day basis, maintaining one’s health can be a challenge. This struggle not only affects an individual’s health, but their external and social life as well, as decreased productivity and missed days of work may also be outcomes of poor health maintenance. The development of employee wellness programs has been an effective way to cope with the resultant health effects brought about by neglecting personal health (Merrill, Aldana, Garrett & Ross, 2011). However, individuals who work in collegiate athletic departments often center their lives around making sure young athletes are supported and successful. Long days and nights take time away from being able to maintain or improve the employee’s own health status. It has been shown that increasing an individual’s health and productivity leads to an increase in health within a company (Pronk, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to describe and define the different aspects of a possible employee wellness program and how it could be implemented in the athletic department at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.