While worksite wellness programs are generally designed to help employees realize better overall health, some employees may not see them in that light. The current study sought to better understand why employees refuse to participate in a new employer-sponsored wellness program. This study also investigated how participation in the program is related to employees’ self-perceived health, efficacy to be healthier and their perceptions toward their organization providing useful resources to engage in a healthy lifestyle. A survey of more than 1,500 employees at a large Midwest organization was conducted after their annual open-enrollment period. Open-ended responses from participants refusing to participate in the wellness program ( n = 297) indicated privacy considerations as their primary concern. They also thought participation would take too much time, conceptually thought the program was unfair or not useful and felt they were already healthy and not in need of the program. Both participants and nonparticipants had no differences in self-perceived overall health. However, participants had greater self-efficacy, and perceptions that their employer offered useful resources to engage in a healthy lifestyle, than nonparticipants. Recommendations for communicating new wellness programs to employees are discussed.

Some patients experience negative interactions with health care providers, such as when they perceive that their concerns are ignored by providers. The present study, guided by patient-centered communication, examined health care provider communication behaviors that resulted in patients feeling dismissed, and whether there were differences in providers who dismissed being perceived as (dis)similar to the patients in gender, race/ethnicity, or age. U.S. adults claiming they felt dismissed by a provider were asked to recall demographic information they perceived about the provider and what the provider said that was dismissive. Responses were coded for emergent themes. Results revealed that younger, female, and non-White participants most frequently reported being dismissed by a dissimilar provider. Patients felt dismissed when they perceived that providers were rude or did not take action, provided poor information, did not believe patients, rushed the visit, or were uninformed. Providers may want to avoid these behaviors and could consider obtaining training in supportive communication behaviors such as providing validation to patients and listening to patients in order to enhance patient satisfaction. Patients can also receive communication training to take a more active role in their medical encounters by learning to effectively ask questions, express preferences, and speak up for themselves.