Introduction: The Massachusetts 'Working on Wellness' (WoW) program provides training and seed funding to employer organizations to initiate policies and programs that promote a healthy workplace and encourage a healthy lifestyle. WoW is a partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), Health Resources in Action (HRiA) and AdvancingWellness (AW). We evaluate the WoW program implementation to assess the program delivery and to make recommendations for program improvement.

Methods: Over the course of nine months, three group interviews were conducted with HRiA and AW staff during the program delivery period. Qualitative data collected focused on successes, challenges, and recommendations related to planning; recruitment; survey instrument development and administration; data collection; report development, generation and delivery; project management; communication and collaboration. These data have been examined, organized, and reported by main themes, in order to assess contextual factors related to program delivery.

Results: Successes, challenges and recommendations were documented. Examples of successes include clearly defined tasks and goals, dedicated team members, positive communication and collaboration, and evidence based evaluation methodology. Challenges include data suppression guidelines, time and customization of employer reports. Recommendations include better guidance for organizations, improving timing of evaluation report delivery, expanding networks, and implementing a solid recruitment plan, customizing outreach.

Discussion and Conclusions: Interview data suggested midcourse adjustments that were made to increase efficiency, uptake, and effectiveness for the subsequent cohorts. In addition, documenting successes, challenges, and recommendations, led to several adjustments, particularly in the areas of recruitment, survey design, report generation and delivery and program delivery.