I'm responding to the following message from Alan McFarlane which was
sent this morning:  "I would like to clarify a statement I made the other day about an
instrument from Nova Scotia Heart Health. I did not mean to imply that it
was inferior - we simply have problems with it. What we reviewed was the
"environmental assessment" given to workplaces, but could not locate any
evidence that the tool had been validated, plus it was a little confusing
for our needs. I'm sure all can appreciate the need for solid, peer
reviewed, and academic evaluation and validation, as we strive to
justify our shrinking and tight budgets (also, we are a teaching health
unit with extra acountability)."


Alan - We appreciate your response, but feel the need to clarify (for
everyone tuned in) what tools we have related to workplace health
promotion programs.  In my last message I explained that we did use a
valid and reliable instrument to assess employee's individual risk
for CVD (I've sent the tool and relevant documentation to Alan).  In your
latest message you refer to  an "environmental assessment" which I
believe is the "Industry Profile Form" used in the Working With Heart
program.

This questionnaire was completed by the Human Resources manager at
baseline and covered such areas as employee demographics, available fitness
facilities/cafeteria programs and health policies in effect.  This tool's
purpose was to create a profile of the industry so that the  various
working groups would have the information (in addition to the
aggregate results of the employee health risk assessment, and results of a
survey on employees' needs and interests) they needed to begin
developing workplace programs and policies.

Assuming this is the instrument you are referring to we are curious
to know what you require in terms of validation of this tool.
The Industry  Profile was simply designed to capture an inventory of what
existed within the industry at the beginning of the program.

If you acquired this tool from our publication "The Working With
Heart Worksite Program: Overview and Research Findings", I may be
able to shed some light on the"confusion" you mentioned. We just
noticed that the Industry Profile tool appears in Appendix F (pages 1 and 2)
AND in Appendix B (pages 3 and 4).   Oops!

Hope this clarification helps -

Heart Health Nova Scotia  (your reliable and valid colleagues!)