WO2009143525A2

WO2009143525A2 - Method and apparatus for motivating participation in a wellness program

Info

Publication number: WO2009143525A2
Application number: PCT/US2009/045184
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jason B. Andrade; Ted D. Taylor
Original assignee: Pops Health, Inc.
Priority date: 2008-05-23
Filing date: 2009-05-26
Publication date: 2009-11-26
Also published as: WO2009143525A3

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for motivating employees or the like to participate in a wellness program include online enrollment, repeated health evaluations and repeated live coaching using networked two-way audiovisual terminals, optionally equipped with instruments for measuring blood pressure, body composition, weight and the like. Physical measurements are taken and participation in multiple provided activities of the wellness program is tracked. Physical measurements and participation levels are reported to the participant. Participation levels of populations are reported to managers. Individual and population participation scores are computed reflecting the level and nature of participation, optionally adjusted with reference to health risks including ones inferred from collected physical measurements. A progressive jackpot sweepstakes incentive event is coordinated with reporting. Incentive eligibility is determined with reference to individual and population participation scores and predetermined goals. Colored graphic representations of participation levels compared with predetermined goals enhance behavioral effects.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOTIVATING PARTICIPATION IN A WELLNESS PROGRAM

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to the evaluating and improving health and wellness in populations, more particularly to measuring and modifying health-related behaviors and their consequences in a population, and especially to motivating a population of individuals to participate in a wellness program offered by an organization with which they are affiliated.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The global phenomenon of inactivity or sedentary lifestyles, obesity and lifestyle choices has led to increased health care costs. Rapid growth of health care related costs threatens to paralyze industrialized economies. Enterprise health care insurance costs are soaring. Productivity is lost. Individual suffering and disability drain quality of life. Impact on families and communities is felt by all to an ever-increasing degree. Frighteningly, against the onslaught of chronic diseases, the traditional resort to medical and pharmaceutical technology has fallen short of solving the health cost problem.

[0003] Fortunately, if ironically, many chronic diseases are the preventable consequences of harmful lifestyle choices. They can be abated or postponed by healthy behaviors such as proper diet, exercise and rest, preventive medical care, and the wise management of psychological stress in the workplace and at home. Indeed, a solution to a large component of our global health care cost crisis is available in the form of behavioral change. [0004] Philosophers and psychologists have long observed, however, that changing longstanding habits is easier said than done. Effective change of habits usually entails changing one's environment, thoughts, feelings and behavior and maintaining the changes consistently for a period of weeks, months or years. As those who have dieted or ended an addiction will point out, back-sliding is almost universal.

[0005] In a business or government enterprise, the challenge of changing behavior further entails influencing a population of individuals to change many different behaviors. Individuals are spread out over many locations and are therefore difficult to reach with any message. They are diverse, and therefore not all of them will find the same message equally compelling. Thus, the implementation of widespread behavioral change in an enterprise presents logistical and scalability challenges over and above the fundamental psychological ones. These logistical challenges require a carefully designed structure of institutions, communications and relationships within the enterprise. From the standpoint of management, any such structure presents its own challenges. No matter how carefully a program is devised, individuals often resist change, don't appreciate its benefits, don't realize the costs of their present behavior, aren't aware that better behaviors exist, and in any event need help to master new behaviors and stay motivated.

[0006] The result is a business owner's nightmare, because an enterprise often lacks expertise in recognizing, measuring and changing behaviors outside its own particular business model. Attempts to institute health and wellness programs are beset by employee apathy, high cost, unclear objectives, inconsistent administration, lack of specificity in behaviors sought, and lack of incentive. Thus, even in an age when enterprises have universally adopted email as a medium of spreading the word and the World Wide Web as a means of deluging their personnel with information of all kinds, there remains a glaring need of improvements in the ability to drive the adoption of healthy behaviors and to demonstrate results.

SUMMARY

[0007] In accordance with the present invention, an exemplary method of motivating a population of employees or the like having at least one individual member (hereinafter, a member is referred to as a "participant") to participate in at least one provided activity of a wellness program has the following steps, which are implemented with at least one program running on a data processing and communication network to which the at least one participant has access: a personal participation measurement is established which represents the at least one participant's participation in at least one provided activity (it is envisioned that many participants will participate in many activities). A personal participation score is generated for the at least one participant. The personal participation score is computed from that participant's at least one personal participation measurement. A population participation score is generated for the population. The population participation score is computed from the set of established personal participation measurements of participants in the population. The at least one participant that participant's personal participation score is communicated to that participant. At least one manager is associated with the population. The population participation score is communicated to that at least one manager.

[0008] In practice, the recorded measurement usually contains enough information to track and report the many instances of many participants' participation in many different activities. Each participant receives a participant report which the network has generated with reference to the measurements of that participant's participation in wellness activities during a time period of interest. Additionally, a manager of the population receives a manager report summarizing the population's participation in wellness activities during the same time period. [0009] The participant report provides immediate feedback to each participant on his or her participation in the wellness program, provides immediate feedback to the manager concerning the effectiveness of his or her efforts to motivate the department to participate, and equips and motivates the manager to provide additional feedback to the participants. In the most basic case, a population is defined as having at least one participant and usually corresponds to a department or other relevant collection of individuals in an organization. A population may also correspond to the managers supervised by a senior manager, the senior managers supervised by an executive, or departments or company locations supervised by such persons. Usually, health-related measurements are also recorded during the participants' participation. Health-related measurements include physiological parameters such as body composition, blood pressure, results of laboratory analysis of blood samples, weight and height, as well as observed behavior and information reported by the participants. One or more health scores are computed from these measurements and reported to the respective participants. Usually, however, the health scores and health-related measurements are regarded as private and therefore are not reported to managers or peers. [0010] Toward the object of achieving superior results, feedback (including, in some embodiments to be discussed, video health re-test results) is consistent, immediate and comprehensive - i.e., happens every time there is an opportunity to participate, happens right away before the participant is distracted, and comes from supervisors and peers as well as from an automated tracking system.

[0011] In accordance with the present invention, this exemplary method may recognize that participation some activities can be more desirable than participation in others. A weighting factor is associated with the at least one provided activity that the participant participated in that resulted in the measurement. The personal participation measurement is adjusted with reference to the weighting factor (this can be done, for example, by multiplying the personal participation measurements by the weighting factors of the respective activities). The resulting personal participation score is affected both by the extent of participation and by the type of activity participated in. The same is true of the population participation score, which is based on data extracted from a plurality of participant reports. Representing a participant's overall participation with a single score facilitates feedback, upward flow of participation information in the organization, and the administration of incentive provided programs, if any. The use of weighting factors spreads information about the relative importance of different activities and selectively motivates participation in the more important ones (for this reason, the weighting factors usually are made available).

[0012] Additionally in accordance with the present invention, this exemplary method may include in the manager report a population participation score computed from the set of said at least one personal participation measurements of participants in the population. The population participation report can be generated for the manager before the personal participation report is generated for the participant.

[0013] Additionally in accordance with the present invention, in this exemplary method, the population participation score is communicated to the at least one participant, so that the participant is informed of how well the department is participating.

[0014] Similarly, an exemplary method in accordance with the present invention provides providing an incentive linked to the participation of at least one participant in at least one provided activity of the wellness program. An administration function is also provided for the incentive, all via the network. An incentive administration report is generated which includes the population participation score and the at least one individual participation score. The incentive administration report is communicated to the incentive administration function. [0015] The incentive administration report is usually computed only with reference to participation occurring within a predetermined time period, such as a month or a quarter. Requiring participants to build their participation scores anew each period discourages complacency and encourages long-term participation.

[0016] Where weighting factors have been associated with activities and applied to measurements of participation in the respective activities in computing the personal participation scores and the population participation score, an incentive can be selectively linked to participation in activities that are favored because of their effectiveness in achieving a goal regarded as important. In addition to the participation measurement, the method, implemented over the network, establishes for the at least one participant a personal health measurement representing a health-related observation made during the at least one participant's participation in at least one provided health evaluation of the wellness program (often, this can be done during an activity of the wellness program). With reference to this personal health measurement, a personal health goal is selected for the participant from the set of at least one provided personal health goals of the wellness program (this may be done by means of a database or table associating health goals with physiological signs and symptoms that are measured in or reported by the participant and that are deemed important for persons with such signs and symptoms). An effectiveness factor is established for the at least one provided activity, and represents the effectiveness of the at least one provided activity in accelerating attainment of said personal health goal (this may be done by means of a database associating activities with the risks they are helpful in reducing). The incentive is then modulated with reference to the effectiveness factor. Where particular risks are especially significant to the population or to the company, the effectiveness factors are used to modulate a provided incentive linked to participation in the respective provided activities. Thus, an incentive can be selectively applied to activities targeted to reduce a recognized risk. [0017] The linkage between an activity and the incentive can be modulated by modulating a weighting factor associated with the at least one provided activity. Participation scores computed for participants and for the population will reflect the adjustments of the weighting factors; ultimately, the effect is that the incentive will be selectively applied to activity in a manner which addresses recognized risks or goals.

[0018] In an exemplary method in accordance with the present invention, the provided incentive is a sweepstakes. An individual participant's eligibility for the sweepstakes may be determined with reference to multiple pieces of information, including that participant's individual participation score, the population participation score, and participation threshold values for the personal participation scores and the population participation score. In this way, the incentive can be linked to both scores.

[0019] In an exemplary method in accordance with the present invention, a personal participation threshold and a population threshold are predetermined. The incentive is the dependency of the at least one participant's qualification for said incentive upon (1) a relation between that participant's personal participation score and the personal participation threshold, and (2) a relation between said population participation score and said population participation threshold (for example, both scores must equal or exceed their respective threshold values, or else the participant is excluded from the incentive). For example, a population participation score may be computed by summing the personal participation scores of the participants in the population and dividing by the number of those participants, in which case it may be preferable to compare both scores with a single threshold value. [0020] In the various exemplary methods discussed in accordance with the present invention, where weighting factors are associated with the respective activities, the weighting factors are usually disclosed to the population. [0021] In the various exemplary methods discussed in accordance with the present invention, scores are reported with enhanced graphics. A predetermined personal participation score goal value and a predetermined population participation score goal value are also entered into the network. A personal participation status is computed with reference to the personal participation score and the predetermined personal participation score goal value. A graphic representation of the personal participation status is displayed with the personal population score when the personal population score is reported. Additionally, a population participation status is computed with reference to the population participation score and the predetermined population participation score goal value. A graphic representation of the population participation status is displayed with the population participation score when the population participation score is reported. In one exemplary graphic representation, scores are displayed as numerical indicia and the status computed for the scores are displayed as dots positioned to represent status values such as "good," "poor," and the like, and as colors assigned to the dots (for example, red for "poor," green for "good"). Where status from multiple locations, departments, companies or individuals is reported, the graphic representations are also grouped or ranked according to their numeric values. This manner of reporting has enhanced impact upon the behavior of participants and managers.

[0022] Also in accordance with the present invention, an exemplary method of motivating participants constituting a population of participants to participate in a provided activity of a wellness program uses at least one program running on a data processing and communication network to perform the following steps: At least one participation score representative of the participation of each of at least one participant in at least one provided activity is entered. Also entered is a population participation score representative of the participation of the population of participants in the at least one provided activity. A population eligibility threshold and an individual eligibility threshold are entered. At least one individual eligibility of at least one participant is determined to be either "eligible" or "not eligible" with reference to the individual participation score and the individual eligibility threshold. At least one population eligibility of the population is determined to be either "eligible" or "not eligible" with reference to the population participation score and the population eligibility threshold. The population eligibility is communicated to the population. The at least one said individual eligibility is communicated to respective participants in the population. An incentive event is conducted in which a prize may be awarded to a participant selected from among the set of participants qualified to receive the prize. However, only participants of a population whose population eligibility is "eligible" being qualified to receive the prize, and among participants of any such population having an "eligible" population eligibility, only a participant whose individual eligibility is "eligible" is qualified to receive the prize. Structuring the reporting and eligibility in a two-tiered manner, with reference both to population behavior and to individual behavior, exerts a variety of overt and subtle social pressures upon participants and their managers. These pressures will be discussed in greater detail herein.

[0023] Usually, after the incentive event is conducted, the population eligibility and the at least one individual eligibility are reset to "not eligible," so that eligibility must be earned again at the population level and at the individual level to qualify for the prize the next time the incentive event is conducted.

[0024] In this exemplary method in accordance with the present invention, the population eligibility may, for example, be determined to be "eligible" only if the population's participation score equals or exceeds the population eligibility threshold. Similarly, the individual eligibility of the at least one participant may be determined to be "eligible" only if the at least one participant's individual participation score equals or exceeds the individual participation threshold.

[0025] In an exemplary method in accordance with the present invention, the incentive event includes a progressive jackpot sweepstakes and the method further comprises the steps of entering a running jackpot amount and a jackpot increment amount, conducting a jackpot drawing event pursuant to which the running jackpot amount is awarded as the prize to a participant selected from among the participants qualified to receive the prize, decreasing the running jackpot amount by the amount awarded, if the prize is awarded, reporting the amount awarded, if any, to the population, reporting the amount awarded and the identity of the participant to which the amount was awarded, if any, to the participant, increasing the running jackpot amount by the present jackpot increment amount, and reporting the running jackpot amount to the population after increasing the running jackpot amount. Thus, if no one wins the jackpot at the end of a given period, all participants of the population are informed that the jackpot amount will be larger at the next drawing at the end of the next period. This cumulative incentive becomes more compelling over time and attracts the attention of previously uninterested participants.

[0026] Also in accordance with the present invention, an exemplary method of motivating participation in a wellness program having at least one provided activity has the following steps, which are with at least one program running on a data processing and two-way audiovisual communication network: A provided activity is conducted in a live audiovisual interaction between a coach at a first location and a participant at a second location. At least one participation measurement is recorded with reference to the step of conducting the at least one provided activity A participant report is generated from the at least one participation measurement of the at least one participant. The participant report is communicated to the participant. Because the participant sees the participant on his or her computer promptly after the interaction, there is a sense of immediacy, follow-through and acknowledgment. This, in addition to the information contained in the report, greatly contributes to the motivational effectiveness of the method. Preferably, there are many coaches and many participants engaging in these activities simultaneously at many locations. [0027] Such an exemplary method in accordance with the present invention may carry out the additional steps of maintaining a participant data record associated with the at least one participant, updating the participant data record with reference to the at least one participation measurement, and communicating the updated participant data record to the participant. In this manner, the participant sees his or her most recent participation measurement in the context of earlier participation and such other health-related information as is desired, so that the participant stays aware of accomplishments and goals.

[0028] In such an exemplary method in accordance with the present invention, the network may optionally associate a manager with the participant and notify the manager of the conducting of the provided activity. This reminds the manager to attend to the goal of encouraging personnel in the department to participate and enables the manager to congratulate the participant for participating in the wellness program. However, it is usually preferable not to provide a manager with personalized information about the participation of individual participants, thereby avoiding creating an unpleasant sense of supervisory intrusion which might discourage participation. Accordingly, this step may be omitted. [0029] In such an exemplary method in accordance with the present invention, the network may optionally perform a step of causing a communication to be sent to the participant, said communication notifying the participant that said manager was notified of the conduct of said provided activity. However, once again, it is usually preferable to avoid creating a sense of intrusion. Accordingly, this step, too, may be omitted.

[0030] Also in accordance with the present invention, an exemplary embodiment of apparatus for motivating participation by a population of participants in a wellness program has a database configured to accumulate from repeated encounters over time a data record of a plurality of physiological measurements and a plurality of activity participation measurements with reference to each of a plurality of human beings in a population. A measurement station is operatively coupled to the database and having capability to record physiological measurements of a human being. A coaching station and a participation station are provided, each operatively coupled to the database and each capable of two-way audiovisual communication with the other over the network. A sweepstakes process is implemented with reference to the database, creating a behavioral contingency including a reward of unpredictable magnitude and timing which is certainly withheld from any participant whose activity participation score is below a predetermined threshold and is also certainly withheld from all participants in a population whose aggregate participation score is below a predetermined threshold. The participation scores are computed with reference to the activity participation measurements and with reference to activity weighting factors associated with respective ones of the activities, with the weighting factors being computed with reference to the physiological measurements.

[0031] Also in accordance with the present invention, an exemplary embodiment of apparatus for motivating motivating at least one participant constituting a population to participate in a wellness program having at least one provided activity provides a data processing and communication network and a plurality of audiovisual terminal-equipped stations, communicating over said network, having capability to mediate live interaction between a participant and a remotely located coach over said network. Additionally, the stations have the capability to mediate the measurement of physiological conditions of said participant with said participant's cooperation and under the supervision of said coach and the capability to mediate the performance of a provided activity by a participant under the supervision of said coach and to present the demonstration of a provided activity by a coach to a participant. At least one program is maintained on said network and configured to accumulate, from repeated instances over time of a participant's participation in a provided activity via said stations, a data record of at least one personal health measurement representing a health-related observation made during the at least one participant's participation in at least one provided health evaluation of the wellness program, and at least one personal participation measurement representing the at least one participant's participation in at least one provided activity of the wellness program.

[0032] This exemplary embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be equipped with a blood pressure-measuring instrument.

[0033] This exemplary embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be equipped with an instrument for determining body composition. [0034] This exemplary embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be equipped with a participant exercise area within camera view and a visual background forming a template against which a participant may perform a bodily movement and a coach may remotely make and record quantitative visual observations of the movement via a camera.

[0035] Such exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to generate from the data record a participant report for each participant, the participant report comprising at least one personal health datum of the participant derived from the at least one personal health measurement of the participant and at least one personal participation datum of the participant derived from the personal participation measurement of the participant; and to communicate to each participant that participant's participant report, which, as in several other embodiments, may display enhanced colored graphic representations of data included in the report.

[0036] These exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to identify at least one manager of the population, to generate with reference to the data record a manager report comprising at least one population participation datum representing a measure of the participation of the population in the at least one provided activity, and to communicate the manager report to the manager.

[0037] These exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to generate with reference to the data record a manager report comprising at least one participation datum of the at least one participant.

[0038] These exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to detect a participant's completion of a provided activity and, when such is detected, to notify a manager of the participant of the completion (although often, as previously discussed, providing a manager with participation information personally identifiable to a participant is not preferred).

[0039] These exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to cause a communication to be sent to the participant, said communication notifying the participant that the manager was notified that the participant participated in at least one provided activity of the wellness program (although, likewise, providing such detail to a manager is often not preferred).

[0040] These exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to maintain for each participant at least one current personal health score computed from the participant's personal health measurements and at least one current personal participation score computed from the participant's personal participation measurements, to report the current personal health score and the current personal participation score to the participant, and to compute a current population participation score from the aggregated current personal participation scores of participants of the population and to report the current population participation score to a manager of the population. [0041] These exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to report the weighting factors associated with the provided activities, as well as the current population participation score, to the participants, so that the participants can better choose the activities they prefer and will benefit from.

[0042] These exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to associate a weighting factor with each of the provided activities, compute the current personal participation score by multiplying each of the participation measurements by the weighting factor associated with the activity participated in for each instance of participation, associate a weighting factor with each of the physiological measurements, and compute the personal health score by multiplying each of the personal health measurements by the weighting factor associated with that personal health measurement. [0043] These exemplary apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be programmed to report the weighting factors associated with the provided activities, along with the current population participation score, to the participants, so that the participants can better choose the activities that will be helpful and that will most readily qualify them for a chance to receive an incentive if one is provided. As in several other embodiments, these exemplary embodiments may be programmed to display enhanced colored graphic representations of reported data.

[0044] Also in accordance with the present invention, an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus for motivating a population and participants in the population to participate in a provided wellness program provides a data processing and communication network programmed to conduct an incentive event in which, if a selected participant is provided, there is at least a possibility that a prize will be awarded to the selected participant. The network is programmed to enter at least one recorded measurement of the participation of the population in at least one provided activity of the wellness program and to generate a population participation score for the population from the at least one measurement, and to enter at least one recorded measurement of the participation of a participant in at least one provided activity of the wellness program and to generate an individual participation score for the participant from the at least one measurement. The network is programmed to enter a provided population eligibility threshold and a provided individual eligibility threshold, to determine a population eligibility to be either "eligible" or "not eligible" with reference to the population participation score and the population eligibility threshold, and to determine at least one individual eligibility of at least one participant to be either "eligible" or "not eligible" with reference to the individual participation score and the individual eligibility threshold. The network then communicates the population eligibility to the population and to communicate the at least one the individual eligibility to the corresponding at least one participant in the population.

[0045] Preferably in such exemplary embodiments, the network is further programmed to set either the at least one individual eligibility or the population eligibility or both equal to zero after communicating same.

[0046] In an exemplary embodiment in accordance with the present invention, the network is further programmed to determine for each of the at least one individual participant in the population whether that participant may be selected in the incentive event, such that the participant may be selected only if the population eligibility is "eligible" and the participant's individual eligibility is "eligible." This step facilitates conducting an incentive event. [0047] In an exemplary embodiment in accordance with the present invention, the incentive event includes a jackpot sweepstakes. The network is further programmed to enter a running jackpot amount and a jackpot increment amount; to select as a provided participant from the set of participants who may be selected; to conduct a jackpot drawing event pursuant to which the running jackpot amount is awarded, with finite probability, to a provided participant; to decrease the running jackpot amount by the amount awarded, if any; to report the amount awarded, if any, to the population; to report the amount awarded and the identity of the participant to which it was awarded, if any, to the participant; to increase the running jackpot amount by the present jackpot increment amount; and to report the running jackpot amount to the population. As discussed with reference to several exemplary embodiments and methods herein, the progressive jackpot often stimulates the spread of information by word of mouth and alerts and motivates participants who were uninformed or uninterested. [0048] In these embodiments, as in others already discussed, enhanced colored graphic representations of scores, eligibilities and the like may be displayed.

[0049] Also in accordance with the present invention, an exemplary method of motivating a first population comprising at least one individual participant to participate in at least one provided activity of a wellness program has the following steps, which are implemented with at least one program running on a data processing and communication network to which the at least one participant has access: Creating an instance participation measurement and maintaining an instance data record with respect to each of at least one instances of one of at least one participant participating in one of at least one provided activity; computing an instance participation value with respect to each of the at least one instance data record; generating a personal participation score for the at least one participant with respect to a subset of the set of the instance participation values pertaining to an instance of participation by the one participant and communicating the personal participation score to the identified one participant; aggregating the personal participation scores into a first population participation score for a subset of participants in the first population; identifying at least one manager of the first population; and communicating the first population participation score to the manager.

[0050] Exemplary methods of this kind provide an alternative reporting scheme whereby rates of participation by populations at multiple levels of a hierarchical organization may be reported through successively higher levels of the organization's management without communicating progressively larger amounts of data. In another alternative, the scope with which participation is reported increases with the rank of the manager being reported to, so that a manager receives reports of participation calculated on the basis of participation scores of all participants within the scope of that manager's responsibility or command. [0051] Such an exemplary method may perform the further steps of determining, for each of the at least one participant who is a manager of a second population (hereinafter, "managing participant"), whether a second population participation score for the second population has been reported to the managing participant; and communicating the second population participation score to the manager if the second population participation score has been reported to the managing participant.

[0052] Such an exemplary method may perform the further steps of determining whether a second population participation score is being communicated to the manager and, if so, determining the number of participants in the second population and associating the number of participants with the second population participation score; and reporting to the manager the number of participants associated with the second population participation score. [0053] Such an exemplary method may perform the further steps of determining whether at least one second population participation score and at least one number of participants in the second population are being reported to a manager and, if so, then for each of at least one of the second population participation score, computing the product of the second population participation score and the number of participants in the second population and increasing the manager's population participation score before reporting same to a manager of the manager. [0054] As mentioned with regard to other exemplary embodiments and methods in accordance with the present invention, it is preferable to perform the further step of reporting to the population the weighting factor associated with each of the at least one provided activity. It is also preferable to provide enhanced colored graphic representations of scores, eligibilities and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] For a further understanding of the objects and advantages of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which like parts are given like reference numbers and wherein:

[0056] Fig. 1 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of providing a live interactive video session in a wellness program in accordance with the present invention;

[0057] Fig. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of motivating participation in a wellness program in accordance with the present invention;

[0058] Fig. 3 depicts a test wall used in conjunction with a video health station interface in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention

[0059] Fig. 4 depicts a video interface display with combination camera-microphone as operated in split format in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention during the video session;

[0060] Fig. 5 represents a participant summary page presented on a participant's personal computer, and as also reported to managers inside of a given organization, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0061] Fig. 6 represents a participant's participation details page presented on a participant's personal computer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0062] Fig. 7 depicts a participant's Health Score report page presented on the a participant's personal computer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0063] Fig. 8 depicts two-way, live audiovisual coaching station displaying a video image of a coach, as viewed by a participant in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0064] Fig. 9 depicts a flat-panel audiovisual screen displaying an image of a participant holding a digital blood pressure cuff display in view of the camera, as viewed by the coach in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; [0065] Fig. 10 depicts a participant self-administering a blood sample collection procedure with a single-use sample collection kit in view of a camera of a two-way, flat-panel audiovisual screen while in two-way audiovisual communication with a coach in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0066] Fig. 11 depicts a participant holding bioimpedance-measuring instrument while standing between a two-way live audiovisual coaching station and a Health Wall in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0067] Fig. 12 depicts a coach holding the bioimpedance-measuring instrument of Fig. 11 in view of a camera of a two-way audiovisual screen while instructing a participant in the use of the instrument in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0068] Fig. 13 represents a manager's scores page presented on a manager's personal computer and displays buttons for navigation and printing as well as four important gauges in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0069] Fig. 14 represents a manager's history page presented on a manager's personal computer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0070] Fig. 15 represents a manager's participation details page presented on a manager's personal computer; in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0071] FlG. 16 depicts a manager's company participation report page as displayed on the manager's personal computer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0072] FIG. 17 depicts a manager's location participation overview as displayed on the manager's personal computer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

[0073] Fig. 18 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of administering health participation sweepstakes eligibility in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Motivating Enrollment In The Wellness Program

[0074] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention ("the invention," "the inventive method,") a wellness program participant - usually an employee of an enterprise where the program is being implemented - usually has access to a personal computer which is able to access web pages over the enterprise's computer network or over the Internet. This employee, or dependents, can also access these web pages from a home or 'other' computer. After the participant logs in, the enterprise home screen prominently displays the wellness program logo along with invitations to participate in the program. A new participant is invited to execute a legal release agreement and use an online scheduler feature to schedule an initial on-site or video health risk assessment. The participant accesses a menu to select a time and location, whereupon a scheduling protocol implemented on a data processing system operatively coupled to the wellness program notifies health assessment personnel when and where to expect the participant. The scheduling protocol also reminds the participant of any preparation needed - for example, fasting for twelve hours before the visit and wearing comfortable, loose-fitting clothes. In connection with this process, the scheduling protocol prompts the participant through a health information questionnaire and populates a participant data record with information obtained from the participant. Thus, enrollment, a first step in participation, is motivated by reaching individuals via a company login screen, by enabling them to complete most steps of enrollment at their own pace and at a place they find convenient, and by reminding enrolled individuals of appointments and how to prepare for them.

Motivating Participation In Health Evaluation And Health Coaching Activities Via Network

[0075] At the on-site health risk assessment, which may be scheduled or spontaneous, the participant is in a pre-established small room or partitioned area where a two-way audiovisual terminal is located. The participant is tested. Alternatively, this is accomplished by sending mobile testing personnel to visit the site. However, it is preferably done entirely through a video-based interface (sometimes referred to as the "backbone" of the system) in a remote live audiovisual assessment or coaching session. In either case, the participant is asked to provide a finger-prick blood sample. In the remote audiovisual mode, this can be done by instructing the participant to use a disposable kit which includes a mail-in sample collection envelope or which is accompanied by a rapid testing device which yields a specific blood sample which is subsequently mailed, via an enclosed envelope, to a laboratory for processing. Results, once processed by the laboratory, are electronically sent directly to a member database for further analysis and reporting. Blood tests include, but are not limited to, blood glucose and lipid profile. Additionally, the participant's blood pressure, weight, and body fat composition are measured. Body fat composition is preferably measured with a bioelectrical impedance analyzer, preferably directly coupled to a data acquisition terminal. Other measurements are made, including but not limited to waist circumference and observations of flexibility, strength and stability. In accordance with the present invention, these observations are preferably made without the need for any testing personnel to visit the site; they are obtained in a live interactive video coaching session.

[0076] When the participant returns to work after the on-site health risk assessment, and logs into his other private Health website, the corporate home screen displays a congratulatory message and prompts the participant to initiate a telephone or live video conference with a remote health coach who has access to the participant's data record, including the data entered by personnel from the health risk assessment the participant recently completed. Also preferably, the participant's supervisor is notified that the participant has participated in the wellness program. The supervisor is prompted to congratulate the participant, so that the participant experiences added reinforcement of the behavior of participating. [0077] The inventors discovered that by making the wellness program highly interactive and highly available to a participant every day at log-in, by causing the participant to experience immediate follow-up in the form of the web interactions, calls and conferences with the coaching and testing personnel, and by triggering and conveying verbal and written reminders and encouragement from the participant's supervisor, the wellness program in accordance with the present invention exerts a powerful influence over the participant's behavior.

Further Elements Of Motivating And Implementing Participation In Health Evaluation And Health Coaching Activities Via Network

Establishing Participant Interaction With Network Audiovisual Capabilities: [0078] In Fig. 1, start 22 represents a beginning point for a flow chart describing an exemplary method of providing a live interactive video session in a wellness program in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention as implemented over a communications network linking a plurality of computers programmed to support audiovisual communications and to maintain and utilize a database. At Video 24 an audiovisual terminal is maintained in a ready condition in a room which is accessible to participants and is generally located at a facility occupied by their employer. Where the size of the population size does not call for a full audiovisual health station, or where video is not desired or not available, a Web camera having suitable image quality is sufficient to carry out the activities of the present invention. A participant approaches the audiovisual terminal and presses a preprogrammed button, located on the private member web page, on the terminal to initiate an audiovisual conference call ("video call"). One means of implementing video communication in accordance with the present invention is the use of the SKYPE® brand video conferencing service to support the video interface. Other providers of such video interface software are envisioned.

Establishing Participant Identification Via Network:

[0079] At Face Recognition 26, a computer-implemented video call handling protocol responds to the call by acquiring an image of the participant from the audiovisual terminal over a telecommunication network and using face recognition capabilities to identify the participant for security purposes. In the absence of automated face recognition capability, identification may be made manually by a coach or other human facilitator.

[0080] Identifying And Accessing Resources And Establishing Rapport With Coach Via Network:

[0081] Also in response to the call, at Coach Available 30, the call handling protocol implemented over the communication network requests a live coach from among a group of expert individual fitness coaches who are located at or near similar two-way audiovisual terminals. At this point, the protocol makes a decision: if there is no coach available at the time of the request, then at Queue 32 the call handling protocol places this participant's request in a queue and, while the participant is waiting for a coach, delivers a predetermined selection of educational and motivational audiovisual programming content to the participant at the participant's location. This content includes one or more of the following: health tips, streaming video, inspirational "vision boards," and inspirational stories. Additionally, based upon previously captured member data, content can be directed to the participant that is specific to the participant's health risks or personal preferences, to encourage the participant to remain in the queue until connected with a Coach.

[0082] Usually, however, a coach is available at the time of the request, in which case at Load Member Coach Site 34, the call handling protocol loads a collection of data pertaining to the participant, so that the video call is customized to this particular participant and presents selected data and other content based data records pertaining to his or her own health, fitness and participation in the wellness program. These data may include data previously provided and maintained with respect to the participant in a database operatively coupled to the call handling protocol. Additionally, as will be described infra, new data will be acquired during the session. Coaching And Health Evaluation Via Network:

[0083] After two-way audiovisual communication is established between the participant and the coach, the coach briefly interviews the participant to determine the participant's purpose for the session. Additonally, the Coach utilizes unique audiovisual methods to effectively shake hands with the Client, thereby putting the Client at ease with the video Coaching interface. At Live Coaching Start 36, the audiovisual screen displays the health coach, a split format display of the Coach and the participant data, or both, to the participant. In the left half of the split format, the call handling protocol displays a live camera view of the coach who will interact with the participant. In the right half of the split format, the call handling protocol displays a live participant data coaching page including data, evaluations, remarks, motivational content and educational content which are selected and arranged with special reference to the particular participant. Selection and arrangement of content may be done based on information already captured from the participant's interactions with a database over the network during enrollment.

[0084] At Virtual Handshake 38, the live health coach launches a video interaction introduction which is generated from pre-established video procedures and presented to the participant as a relaxing way to experience live video. Additionally, the call handling protocol conducts a virtual demonstration of how to use one or more items of equipment that have been co-located with the audiovisual terminal. These items of equipment include, for example, the body composition analyzer, blood pressure monitor, and Pops Health test wall, also referred to herein as a test wall.

[0085] After the relaxation tool and equipment demonstration, a decision is made at Is Remote Health Testing Needed 42. This decision is made based upon a participant's personal health goals and health factors. If remote health testing is not needed, then a shortcut is taken whereby health coaching begins. Health coaching includes a review of goals (Goals Review 52, described infra). This takes from ten to fifteen minutes, after which the session ends. If remote health testing is needed, then at Remote Video Testing Launch 44 followed by Tests 46, the call handling protocol prompts the coach to guide the participant through a series of participant testing activities including, for example, the following: using a bioimpedance/scale measuring device to measure body fat percent, water percent, and body weight; using a blood pressure testing machine to measure blood pressure; and using a scale to measure weight. Additionally, the call handling protocol prompts the coach to guide the participant in performing physical movements in various positions against a video health test wall apparatus including a visible grid and measurement-taking indicia while the coach uses the camera to observe the participant's performance. These movements enable the coach to make defined observations which are usable to estimate different aspects of the participant's physical fitness - for example, abdominal strength, upper body strength, flexibility, and functional stability. Various additional visual tests are undertaken which measure other specific health characteristics.

Test 1 : Interactive Self- Administration of Blood Sample Collection Assessment Via Network For Blood Assessment:

[0086] The participant performs a self-administered blood assessment. In view of the camera and with the coach's guidance as needed, the participant opens a single-use blood sample kit, pricks a fingertip with a supplied lancet, applies a sample of blood to a provided sample collector, seals the sample in an addressed, postage-paid envelope, and mails it to a diagnostic laboratory which reports blood analysis results generally in about a week. With a coach watching the steps of obtaining the blood sample, the security, accuracy and validity of the blood assessment increases.

Capture of Coach Observations And Remarks Via Network:

[0087] Additionally, at Test Data Capture Integration 48, the call handling protocol prompts the coach in utilizing a data entry device to make a record of his or her visual observations of the participant's performance of the movements. As these data are uploaded, they are integrated with a database containing data records pertaining to this participant's health, physical fitness, and participation in the wellness program.

Integration of Data, Observations And Goals And Goal Management Via Network:

[0088] At Recalculate 50, the call handling protocol uses the newly acquired data as part of a procedure for recalculating age equivalents and health risks. Next, at Goals Review 52, the call handling protocol uses the recalculated age equivalents and health risks to review the goals progress or challenges with the participant. All new testing, goal setting, and coaching feedback have been simultaneously uploaded to the participant's private web site for future review. The session ends at End Live Session 54.

Interactive Capture Of Measurements With Test Wall Via Network:

[0089] Fig. 3 shows an optional health test wall with a grid used in connection with an embodiment of the present invention. While the test wall is useful in the context of the present invention, it is by no means universally required by all embodiments of the present invention in order to carry out measurement and coaching. A planar surface approximately 84 inches tall and 54 inches wide displays a green or similarly contrasting background, a white grid of numbered horizontal and vertical lines, and a diagonal with numbered hatch- marks. The grid is placed in the field of the camera of the two-way audiovisual terminal, leaving sufficient space for a participant to stand, squat, and lie down adjacent the grid and within the camera field. In accordance with the present invention, the remote coach uses the grid to make important, objective observations including but not limited to (1) the participant's body measurements and (2) the participant's movements during maneuvers designed to test strength, flexibility and stability. Measurements and observations made with the participant viewed against the test wall are compared with empirical data standards for persons of the same gender and similar age as part of the health assessment. Examples of the use of the grid in cooperation with the camera include but are not limited to the following: [0090] Prompting the participant to stand against the grid to accurately measure the participant's height.

[0091] Prompting the participant to use a tape to obtain a waist circumference measurement and using the video interface to accurately observe the circumference by reading the tape as the participant holds it in front of the video camera.

[0092] Prompting the participant to sit adjacent the test wall, feet to the right, aligned with predetermined indicia on the test wall; prompting the participant to reach forward as far as possible; and using the video interface to accurately observe and record the extent of reach and other positional observations needed to quantify flexibility.

[0093] Prompting the participant to lie down adjacent the test wall, feet to the right, aligned with predetermined indicia on the test wall; prompting the participant to reach up the diagonal as far as possible; and using the video interface to accurately observe and record the extent of reach and other positional observations needed to quantify abdominal strength. [0094] Prompting the participant to stand in front of the test wall, aligned with predetermined indicia on the grid, toes pointing to camera and spaced apart in a predetermined manner, and face the camera; prompting the participant to squat; and using the video interface to accurately observe and record knee spread, heel lift, toe pronation, and other positional observations needed to quantify stability.

[0095] Prompting the participant to face right in front of the test wall, aligned with predetermined indicia on the grid, feet pointing right; and prompting the participant to squat; and using the video interface to accurately observe arm movements, steps, and other positional observations needed to quantify stability. [0096] Prompting the participant to stand with back to camera, in front of the test wall, aligned with predetermined indicia on the grid; prompting the participant to squat; using the video interface to accurately observe and record off-center movements and other positional observations as needed to quantify stability.

[0097] With continued reference to Fig. 3, the use of a preferred embodiment the grid, also called a test wall, is now discussed in greater detail. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the test wall 132 is used to perform four tests that are included in the fitness portion of the Health Risk Assessment. The four tests are Height, Stability, Abdominal Strength, and Flexibility. The test wall 132 is formed of high impact polystyrene 84" high x 54" wide. The test wall has a green or similarly contrasting grid background 134 made up of 4"x 4" boxes. Near the left side is a height measuring scale 136 that measures height in Feet and Inches. For the Abdominal Strength Test, the wall has three diagonal lines 138, 140, and 142, labeled A, B, and C, respectively. The lines start at 5 inches and are marked every inch to the length of 59 inches. The lines are located in the center of the test wall one foot from the bottom of the test wall. Along the bottom of the test wall is the V-sit Flexibility test measurement line 114, which starts at 5 inches and is marked every inch to the length of 29 inches.

[0098] Optionally, embodiments of the test wall and also of a waist-measuring tape in accordance with the present invention are marked with a proprietary, non-standard system of marking and units of measure. For example, inch-like units are lettered or color-coded instead of being numbered. They are nevertheless easily read by the camera or read out loud by the participant and heard by the coach. This option serves to reduce a participant's preoccupation with his or her own true measurements in English or metric units, thereby avoiding distraction and discomfort surrounding the session. Within the data processing and communication system, of course, these proprietary units are standardized as needed for analysis, administration and reporting.

Test 2: Interactive Height Measurement With Test Wall Via Network:

[0099] To measure a participant's height in feet and inches, a coach instructs the participant to place his or her left shoulder along the Vertical Height Rod located on the left side of the test wall and "stand up nice and tall." The coach will then will observe via the video interface and record the number that is even with the top of the participant's head, measuring height in Feet and Inches.

[00100] Test 3: Interactive Squat Test Measurement With Test Wall Via Network: [00101] The squat test measures a participant's stability by asking the participant to perform a squat from three different views with as little deviation as possible (the smaller the deviations, the better the participant's stability). Possible deviations observed in a front view include Feet Turn Out, Knees In, and Knees Out. Those observed in a lateral view include Excessive Forward Lean, Arms Fall Forward, Lower Back Arches, and Lower Back Rounds. Those observed in a posterior view include Feet Flatten, Heels Rise, Asymmetrical Weight Shift, and Shoulder Elevates.

[00102] A coach instructs the participant to stand with his or her body in the middle of the test wall with his or her feet shoulder-width apart, toes facing forward. The coach then explains the objective of the test: "Place your arms directly above your head and in a nice slow and controlled manner squat down as if you were sitting in a chair." The coach instructs the participant to squat down three times, to hold the third squat at the bottom position for two seconds each time, and then to return to the starting position. While the participant is holding the position, the coach observes the participant with the camera, using the test wall behind the participant as a visual reference for assessing whether the participant has any deviations, as viewed from the front. The coach marks any deviations observed, preferably entering them directly into a data acquisition device.

[00103] Next, the coach instructs the participant to turn to the right for assessment from the lateral view. Once the participant is in the lateral view position, the coach instructs the participant to repeat the three-repetition squat, to hold the third squat for two seconds, and to return to the starting position. While the participant is holding the position, the coach observes the participant with reference to the green grid to assess and mark any deviations seen in the lateral view.

[00104] The coach next instructs the participant to turn to the right again, into position for assessment from the posterior view. Once the participant is in the posterior view position, the coach instructs the participant to repeat the three-repetition squat, to hold the third squat for two seconds and then to return to starting position. While the participant is holding the position, the coach observes the participant with reference to the test wall to assess and mark any deviations seen in the posterior view.

Test 4: Interactive Abdominal Strength Measurement With Test Wall Via Network:

[00105] The abdominal strength test measures the strength of a participant's abdominal muscles by measuring, in inches, how far a participant lying on a flat surface with knees bent can reach upward along a diagonal line. The participant is instructed to reach as far as possible along a diagonal line using abdominal strength. The line is marked with numbers. The highest number the participant's fingertips reach is the number recorded. The higher this measurement, the greater the participant's abdominal strength.

[00106] The participant is instructed to use one of lines A, B, and C, the choice of line depending on the participant's measured height. Line A is for participants whose height is 5'5" and less; Line B is for participants whose height is 5'6" to 6'; and line C is for participants whose height is 6' 1" and above. In this example, a participant's height is 5'2" and line A is used. The coach instructs the participant to "Sit on the mat, bend your knees, place your feet flat on the floor, align your left knee with the letter A, lie back as if you are going to do a sit-up, and place your right hand over your left hand." When the participant is ready, the coach instructs the participant to "Use your abdominal strength and reach with your fingertips as far as you can along line A with your right hand over your left, in a nice slow and controlled manner." The coach notes the highest number the participant's fingertips reach. This test is repeated two more times. The highest of the three measurements is recorded as the test measurement.

Test 5: V-Sit Flexibility Test Measurement With Test Wall Via Network: [00107] The V-Sit Flexibility Test measures a participant's flexibility by measuring how far the participant can reach along a line. The farther the reach, the greater is the flexibility. [00108] The coach instructs the participant to sit up on the mat facing sideways with both legs straight and align his or her left knee with the letter D on the test wall. Once the participant's left knee is aligned with the letter D, the coach instructs the participant to space his or her right foot about 12 inches apart from the left foot. Next, the coach instructs the participant to keep his or her feet in the flexed (straight) position during the test. Once the participant is in the correct seated position, the coach instructs the participant to place his or her right hand over the left hand and to reach in a slow and controlled manner as far as possible along line D and then to return to the starting position, sitting straight up. The coach notes the highest number the participant's fingertips reach. This test is repeated two more times. The highest number is recorded as the measurement.

Audiovisual Terminal And Display Delivering Health Evaluation Results Via Network: [00109] Fig. 4 depicts a large audiovisual display with combination camera-microphone as operated in split format in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention during the video session. The right half of the screen, used exclusively during a live video coaching session, displays a summary of the participant's health and physical fitness data. Among the data displayed are a participants calculated cardiovascular age, body fat age, strength age, stability age, and flexibility age, with histogram charts, showing specific health test progress over time as a series of bars, each topped with a numerical display superimposed over a graphic of a color-coded ball, signifying the charted value. The use of Green, Yellow and Red as universal indicators of Good, needs improvement, and bad, respectively, is used to simplify the participant understanding of the results obtained. In the depicted example, with the passage of time represented from left to right, several earlier, higher levels are displayed numerically and the balls are colored red, signifying that these levels are objectively high-risk in light of epidemiological data. More recently, however, this participant brought her level of this measurement down, as indicated by the shorter bars which are topped by lighter (yellow or green) colored bars signifying that these levels correspond to lower levels of risk. [00110] Other data displayed include but are not limited to the following:

[00111] The participant ' s name and photograph;

[00112] The live video session active time indicator, which changes during the live session;

[00113] Color-coded-ball numerical indicators of the participant's body fat percentage, strength, stability, and flexibility;

[00114] Links to records of the participant's past coaching sessions;

[00115] Links to records of the participant's past health risk assessments;

[00116] Listings, with links, of the participant's goals, with date set, objective completion date and brief text as to the nature of the goal;

[00117] A re-test button for retesting aimed at evaluation progress in various health, fitness and lifestyle risks;

[00118] A text box for notes made in the current session; and

[00119] A text box summarizing notes made in the past.

Further Elements Of Audiovisual Terminal And Associated Equipment For Interaction Via

Network:

[00120] Fig. 8 depicts a two-way, live audiovisual coaching station displaying a video image of a coach, as viewed by a participant in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The station of Fig. 8 may be regarded as an alternative to that shown in

Fig. 4, and is preferable in that it has a pedestal raising the screen to a convenient height for two-way audiovisual communication between the participant and the coach. Optionally, the station is equipped with a tray beneath and in front of the display, so that a keyboard, mouse, or the like may be operated there. Also optionally, the screen is activated by touch. A touch screen makes a keyboard and mouse unnecessary and makes it easier for the participant to use the interface. A participant who is uncomfortable with computer interfaces will appreciate the touch screen. The image depicted is a single-screen Web-camera image, and is convenient for most aspects of a live video coaching or health risk assessment session. Other information, such as that displayed on the right half of the screen in Fig. 4, may be displayed as desired.

[00121] Fig. 9 depicts a two-way flat panel audiovisual screen displaying an image of a participant holding a digital blood pressure cuff display in view of the camera, as viewed by the coach in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. A coach is depicted, seated in front of the screen, wearing a head-set microphone and earphone, reading the blood pressure values from the display while the participant holds it in view. In appropriate situations, the coach may visually observe and instruct the participant as the participant uses the cuff to obtain the blood pressure values.

[00122] Fig. 10 depicts a participant self-administering a blood sample collection procedure with a single-use sample collection kit in view of a camera of a two-way flat panel audiovisual screen while in two-way audiovisual communication with a coach in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As with the blood pressure cuff previously described, the coach may visually observe and instruct the participant, to facilitate obtaining the sample and to authenticate the source of the sample.

[00123] Fig. 11 depicts a participant holding a bioimpedance-reporting display of a bioimpedance-measuring instrument while standing between a two-way live audiovisual coaching station and a Health Wall in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The bioimpediance-measuring instrument utilizes an electronic impulse conducted through the participant's body while the participant's bare feet are exposed to two metal capture plates . The bioimpedance instrument measures the body fat, body moisture, muscle mass and water content of theparticipant. To achieve these measurements, the participant's weight is also detected through this apparatus during the test procedure. [00124] Fig. 12 depicts a coach holding a bioimpedance-reporting display of the bioimpedance-measuring instrument depicted in Fig. 11 in view of a camera of a two-way audiovisual screen while instructing a participant in the use of the instrument in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. [00125] The inventors discovered that the compelling immediacy of these screen presentations helps to reinforce participation, leading to better health and physical fitness. Additionally, the call handling protocol prompts the coach to provide encouragement on key behaviors determined to be most valuable in reducing this participant's serious health risks. As a result, the encouragement delivered by the coach compounds the encouragement already embedded in the screen presentation of the participant's data and goals.

Measuring Participation and Reporting To Participants And Managers Via Network

Motivating Participation With Reporting To Participant Via Network:

[00126] Fig. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of reporting participation through reporting mechanisms in a wellness program in accordance with the present invention. At Start New Member 62, which includes the completion of their initial Health Risk Assessment, the participant visits the private access-only, personal health web site. Next, at Matrix 64, software recognizes a series of potential participation points within the participant web site, during a live video coaching session, and related to onsite programs, testing, retesting, and goal related activities. These participation events are captured, when recognized, by the software. At Calculate Participation Score 66, the software, utilizing a weighted matrix scoring system, calculates a cumulative score for the participant for the period with - for example, the population of the department or division the participant works in, or the population consisting of all persons reporting directly or indirectly to a the same manager or executive to whom the participant reports.

[00127] At Report 68, both the participant and a manager (reporting to managers is discussed below) who has been designated to help motivate the participant (probably the participant's direct supervisor) receive separate and different reports, which are preferably delivered to them as part of the home screen on their workplace personal computers, but are also available from any computer via username specific login and password. [00128] The participant report includes but is not limited to specific detail as to the status of participation in the period. The score is expressed relative to pre-established thresholds of performance in red, yellow or green. The participant report also includes but is not limited to details of the scoring capture points and how this participant's score compares with averages for the department, other participants in the department, location, and company as a whole, and the like. The participant's participation score is computed with reference to the frequency and type of participation, which can be determined by number of sessions and any other wellness activities completed per unit of time, and also with reference to the type of participation. Some activities may have greater health benefit and, for that reason, be accorded more weight in computing a participant's participation score. Thus, the participant's participation score is computed by a procedure which includes multiplying each of the activities eligible to be counted as participation by its own independent weighting factor, and summing the products for all the activities the participant engaged in.

Motivating Participation With Reporting To Manager Via Network:

[00129] The manager report does not include personal health and fitness information of any participant. Rather, it includes a listing of the participation scores of all persons the manager is in a position to influence - typically, that manager's direct reports and, optionally, a selection of that manager's indirect reports (in a hierarchical organization with many levels of management, practical limits may be applied to the size of the population any one manager is expected to influence directly; indirect influence through that manager's direct reports may be appropriate). The manager's report also includes an aggregate score reflecting the quality of the population's participation in the wellness program. This number is, for example, a percentage of a maximum theoretical score.

[00130] Motivating Participation With Incentive Linked To Participation

Motivating Participation With Determination Of Eligibility At Multiple Levels Via Network:

[00131] Next, adequacy of participation is evaluated at two levels: in the aggregate with reference to the manager's department or population, and individually with reference to each participant. With reference to the department or population, the aggregate participation score is compared with a predetermined aggregate participation threshold. Based upon the goals of the organization, and/or location or department, the participant's achievement of the specified objective is provided as reinforcement for continued participation. If the goal is not reached, the failure to reach it becomes motiviation for increased participation to reach the predetermined organizational, locational, or departmental goals. Optionally, if the aggregate participation score meets the threshold, then the department or population could be awarded an incentive to further reward the accomplishment of the goal. With reference to each individual participant, that participant's participation score is compared with a predetermined individual participation threshold. If the score meets the threshold, then the participant could optionally be individually eligible to win an incentive. As a practical matter, the aggregate determination can be made first, and the many individual determinations can be skipped for individuals in any department or population that isn't eligible. For these non-qualifying individuals, the procedure calls for cycling back to the step Matrix 64 - i.e., keep trying! Each month, or other specified period, the participation scores are reset to 0. Then during the month, the scores are reported based upon the percentage of the month completed and the goal. Long-term archival records of all participation scores can be maintained for research, analysis, administration and reporting.

Motivating Participation With Entry, Conduct and Reporting Of Progressive Jackpot Sweepstakes Via Network:

[00132] An eligible participant belonging to an eligible department or population is entered into a health participation sweepstakes, which in an embodiment of the present invention takes the form of a jackpot established by an initial contribution and a drawing held to determine in a random way an individual who is awarded the jackpot. The participant is notified of the entry, thereby reinforcing the participation behaviors that led to meeting the threshold. The health participation sweepstakes may or may not be structured such that an award is always paid out. In either case, the health participation sweepstakes may be structured such that the jackpot tends to accumulate. An initial jackpot of, say, $250 might arouse only modest interest. However, after a few cycles, a cumulative jackpot of $1,000 or more will likely arouse considerable interest. As a result, awareness of the program will spread via word of mouth, which can sometimes be more compelling than official communications. Reinforcement of the behavior of participation is thus enhanced. Additionally, word will spread about the precise manner in which participants availed themselves of the wellness program. In some cases, a more avid participant will accompany a reticent one to a computer terminal and begin coaching him or her in how to log in, schedule a video session or health risk assessment, and begin earning participation points. In the process, at least a little mention of health accomplishments is likely to occur, thus reinforcing social norms around health and fitness. Moreover, all of these interactions tend to be noticed by onlookers, further driving awareness and participation.

[00133] The impact of aversive experiences and social pressures should also be considered. An ineligible participant in an eligible department or population will almost certainly note that others in the department are eligible and experience subtle pressure to find out how to become eligible and begin that course of action. An ineligible participant in an ineligible department or population may experience not-so-subtle pressure to increase participation when witnessing the generalized disappointment of the group over its exclusion from the health participation sweepstakes. Pressure may be acute from eligible participants in an ineligible department, as they complain that but for a few under-participating individuals, they would have been eligible for the health participation sweepstakes. A manager of an ineligible department may feel pressure to work hard at motivating increased participation - especially when the manager's own performance may be evaluated as a function of increasing measures of performance of direct and indirect reports. Such managers will add their own messages to the chorus of exhortations to participate in the wellness program.

Motivating Participation With Enhanced Reporting To Participant, Peers and Managers Via Network

Motivating Participation With Reporting To Participant Via Network:

[00134] An exemplary individual participation score is computed on the basis of an individual's participation in a number of specific activities tracked by the wellness program. A weighting factor is associated with each of those activities. In general, these activities include; early enrollment incentives, enrollment, various health risk assessment participation points, health coaching, program participation, logged activity, goal setting, goal completion, health class enrollment, health class completion by grade achieved, participant web site logins, customer satisfaction surveys competed, and other health testing and motivating activities.

[00135] Fig. 5 represents a participant summary web-based landing page presented on a participant's personal computer. In addition to banners, boxes and the like presenting content selected to educate and inspire healthy behavior change, the page displays several parameters of interest to the participant:

[00136] AgeGauge™ indicator displays a proprietary calculated physiological age computed on the basis of the participant's health habits and fitness data as measured or otherwise reported in the participant's health and participation data records, as well as the participant's reported actual age.

[00137] Wellness Score or Health Score displays a proprietary calculation of various health risks based on measurements performed on the participant and also reports a score aimed at evaluating overall individual health risks in a single numeric representation.

[00138] Participation is the participant's participation score, based on frequency and nature of sessions and activities completed in the wellness program, for a specified finite period of time. [00139] Long Term Goal is the graphic representation of a goal determined by the participant with assistance from the health coach.

[00140] Short Term Goal is the graphic representation of a goal determined by the participant with assistance from the health coach.

[00141] Buttons are presented for printing reports of any of the above parameters. Buttons are also presented for requesting a conference with a remote coach, for requesting a description of the group, population or department to which the participant belongs, and for obtaining more detail about the participant's health profile, participation, goals, coaching, information, and discussion groups by navigating to pages focusing on those items. [00142] Fig. 6 represents a participant's participation details page, accessible through a click of the first layer participation arrow, presented on a participant's personal computer. In addition to printing and navigation buttons, this page display includes but is not limited to the following:

[00143] Whether the participant has reached the numeric participation objective for participation in a health risk assessment.

[00144] Whether the participant has reached the numeric participation objective for participation in video coaching sessions.

[00145] Whether the participant has reached the numeric participation objective for participation in on-site coaching sessions.

[00146] Whether the participant has reached the numeric participation objective for participation in telephone coaching.

[00147] Whether the participant has reached the numeric participation objective for participation in "classes," i.e., online instruction relating to health and physical fitness.

[00148] Whether the participant has reached the numeric participation objective for participation in "victory day retests," i.e., a re-test confirming progress of the participant in various health and fitness related tests.

[00149] Whether the participant has reached the numeric participation objective for participation in wellness-oriented or wellness program quality control surveys. [00150] Fig. 7 depicts a participant's Health Score report page presented on the participant's personal computer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The participant may see the Health Score report page by clicking on a navigation button, indicated by a green arrow indicating 'more detail available' in a deeper layer portion of the web page. Reported information includes: [00151 ] The participant's name and most recent assessment date; [00152] Details of the participant's self-reported information; [00153] Details of measurements and observations made during the participant's health risk assessment and coaching sessions;

[00154] A numerical score generated with reference to the participant's self- reported information and measurements and observations; and

[00155] A graphic indication of the numerical score.

[00156] Motivating Participation With Reporting to Manager Via Network: [00157] Fig. 13 represents a manager's scores page presented on a manager's personal computer and displays buttons for navigation and printing as well as four important gauges: [00158] Participation within the manager's department, as a percentage of the maximum attainable.

[00159] Recent improvements of any of the participants.

[00160] Wellness score within the manager's department, as a calculated percentage of the participants individual wellness scores computed by numeric averaging.

[00161] AgeGauge™ within the manager's department, represents a numeric averaging of AgeGauge™ scores for individual participants within that managers supervision.

[00162] Key Risks represents the 4 highest risk factors within the supervised group, within the manager's supervision, including paired verbal and iconic references those specific health risks.

[00163] Fig. 14 represents a manager's history page presented on a manager's personal computer. In addition to printing, Email forwarding of the data capability, and navigation buttons, this page displays horizontal bars representing at least the following:

[00164] Latest Data, including a percentage participation score and how it was computed, with a green arrow allowing for more detailed representation of the data, including individual names and scores for participants under that managers supervision.

[00165] One or more previous values, from previous participation capture periods, with green arrow access to previous period details are desired by the supervisor. [00166] Fig. 15 represents a manager's participation detail page presented on a manager's personal computer. In addition to printing and navigation buttons, this page displays horizontal bars representing:

[00167] Latest supervisors' participant's average participation score.

[00168] A list of color-coded indicators using a three-color scale to indicate the participation levels of all persons in the manager's department.

[00169] The inventors discovered that a manager viewing this screen, based upon the natural human desire to score higher when compared with peer managers, will proactively pick up the telephone, or choose to engage and enter into an in-person supportive dialogue with an employee having an under-participating report.

[00170] Fig. 16 depicts a manager's company participation report page as displayed on the manager's personal computer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The information reported includes, for the most recent month:

[00171] Overall participation in the wellness program by the company's employees;

[00172] Participation in the health risk assessment by the company's employees;

[00173] A numeric and pie-chart breakdown of overall participation in the wellness program into categories, namely: Video, Group, On-site, email, and telephone, etc.; and

[00174] A listing of participation in the wellness program by employees at each of a plurality of company locations.

[00175] The information reported also includes historical tracking displayed as a bar chart display of overall participation for a series of past months.

[00176] Fig. 17 depicts a manager's location participation overview as displayed on the manager's personal computer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The information reported is analogous to that reported for the company as discussed with reference to Fig. 16, but focuses instead on one location from among the plurality of locations listed as shown in Fig. 16. With reference to one location, the manager's location participation overview reports a listing of participation in the wellness program by employees in each of a plurality of departments at that location. [00177] With reference to Fig. 16 and Fig. 17, it can be seen that an awareness of participation is developed and sustained in employees and their supervisor in a department, and in location managers and the top company management. This awareness includes the knowledge that "my boss knows the extent of my team's participation." Also with reference to Fig. 16 and Fig. 17, it is noted that personal health information is not reported and that personally identifiable participation information, while it might in some cases be inferred from information about small departments, is not specifically reported. Thus, a significant measure of confidentiality is provided for personally identifiable health and participation data about individual employees. Of course, a manager's performance in motivating a department's participation is fair game for scrutiny by superiors, as well as being noticed by peers.

[00178] With reference to Figs. 4-9 and 13-17, the coloring and position of displayed graphic features are used to indicate whether health scores and participation scores are considered "good," "bad," or somewhere in between when compared with a reference standard or a predetermined goal. In Fig. 5, dots are shown in three positions. One dot, for Participation, is in the left position and is colored red, for "bad," "failed," or a similar negative characterization. Three dots (AgeGauge, Wellness and Short Term Goal) are in the middle position and are colored yellow, for "improvement recommended" or a similar intermediate characterization. One dot, for Long Term Goal, is in the right position and is colored green for "good," "excellent" or "succeeded." In Fig. 6, the same scheme of positioning and coloring is applied to the dots representing a participant's participation in various provided activities. In Figs. 13-15, various scores are indicated by dots (color, positioning, superimposed numerical indicia, icons), bars (color, length, superimposed numerical indicia). Similarly, the right half of the split screen of Fig. 4 is shown using color and graphics to convey health-related information to a participant.

[00179] The Health Score report page depicted by Fig. 7 displays a numeric health score in its upper right corner. The same score is also displayed as an indicator positioned along a horizontal bar comprising different colored segments each labeled "poor," "fair," "good" and "excellent." Detailed information is represented beneath this bar below by a series of color- coded horizontal bands. Each band's length corresponds to the status indicated by the bar. The bands are colored in a four-color scheme corresponding to the four colors of the bar. [00180] Fig. 16 (company participation detail report page) and Fig. 17 (manager's location participation overview page) use a scheme of colors and geometric shapes with superimposed numerical indicia to represent participation levels at a glance. Location summaries and department summaries are arranged in order of descending participation level. [00181] While developing and testing embodiments of the present invention, the inventors realized that when a member of a population is given periodic reports of his or her own performance level in comparison with others' performance levels (for example, the member's performance accompanied by numerical indicia of the population mean level or a graph of the population's performance level), the member's performance level in the long run tends toward the reported mean with the passage of time. However, when the member's periodic report includes an absolute evaluation of the member's performance level, including a provided desired level and an indication of congratulation or disappointment with the member's performance in comparison to the provided desired level, the member's performance level tends toward the provided desired level. In other words, when a performance standard is provided to the member, something in the member's thought process competes with the tendency of the member's performance toward the mean. [00182] The inventors concluded that a psychological principle underlies these observations, and that each member of a population probably has a self-concept as part of his or her "ego." This self-concept may be "I am excellent," "I am average," "I am poor," etc. The member also tends to identify departmental performance at any activity with self or ego and, thus, with the self-concept. Thus, when a reported external measurement of departmental performance in any activity (such as wellness program participation) conflicts with the member's self-concept, the member is strongly motivated to seek control of the performance in order to resolve the conflict. Therefore, a member whose self-concept is "excellent" receives a report characterizing the member's performance as "poor" or "needs improvement," the report really gets the member's attention and motivates the member to seek ways of improving his or her performance level.

[00183] In accordance with the present invention, the inventors designed the reporting of results using coloring and graphic features to take advantage of this phenomenon. Additionally, the inventors designed the reporting of results to take particular advantage of this phenomenon in the special case of reporting to managers. In an organization, a manager is usually a person who was promoted to a supervisory or leadership position because, over a long period of time, he or she demonstrated performance levels superior to the average performance levels of personnel in the organization. This consistent, enduring, superior performance is accompanied by, if not the result of, a self-concept dominated by excellence and the achievement of goals valued by the organization. Additionally, a manager's performance is judged primarily according to how well he or she motivates high performance in the people he or she supervises. Therefore, a manager is very likely to be strongly influenced by a report which favorably or unfavorably compares his or her department's wellness program participation level with a level desired by the organization. The manager will immediately seek ways to motivate his or her personnel to increase their participation in the wellness program.

[00184] In accordance with the present invention, reporting of departmental participation to a manager provides two inputs to the manager: a relative evaluation of departmental performance; and an absolute evaluation of departmental performance compared with what is desired by the organization. Specifically, the red-yellow-green reporting scheme of reporting a manager's department's participation level (population participation score) graphically alerts the manager that his or her department's participation level is poor, fair, or excellent in light of the level desired by the organization. If the level is poor or fair, the manager almost certainly will get busy and do something about it. Thus, reporting participation scores to managers in accordance with the present invention takes particular advantage of the tendency in managers for ego validation to compete with, and even to override, other factors influencing managers' behavior.

[00185] Indeed, reporting personal participation scores to participants and reporting population participation scores to managers achieved dramatic increases in participation at almost zero cost per employee, whereas previous conventional incentive programs (usually relying on material incentives) delivered nearly negligible results while costing about $200 per employee.

[00186] It is ironic that for the many decades during which business and government have felt a need for effective wellness programs, and during which such elements as diagnosis, coaching, the computer, the Internet, all manner of performance reports and the like were known, no one in the world of wellness program administration used reporting to drive participation in this manner. Instead, they relied on other, conventional approaches, such as material incentives. The inventors noted that, unfortunately, material incentives are not highly cost-effective and usually yield diminishing returns in the long run. In contrast to the disappointing results attained conventionally, reporting as carried out in accordance with the present invention is surprisingly effective, yielding participation levels previously unheard-of and unexpected.

Administering Incentive Event Cooperating With Measurement and Reporting of Participation

[00187] Fig. 18 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of administering health participation sweepstakes eligibility for a company participating in an incentive event program with other companies, company eligibility being determined by company-wide participation, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention using a data processing and communication network. After Start 82, at Participation Threshold Established 84, an agreed-upon level of wellness program participation is entered. This level is expressed as a numeric percentage of a previously established individual participation goal for how well the company's personnel will participate in various key parts of the wellness program during a specified period, such as, for example, "a participation score of at least 30 as measured beginning at 00:00 on June 1 and ending at 23:59 on June 30." Next, at Promotion/Marketing 86, a marketing campaign is conducted to make participants aware of the goal and the incentive attached to its attainment. During the relevant period, participation is measured and participation scores are computed.

[00188] When the participation data for the period have been measured, at Company Reaches Threshold 88, a decision is made. If the aggregate (population) participation score for the company does not meet the participation threshold, then the company is not enrolled in the health participation sweepstakes; the process takes a short-cut to End 90. If the participation score for the company meets or exceeds the participation threshold, then as shown at Company Enrolled 98 the company is qualified for the health participation sweepstakes for the period.

[00189] However, enrollment alone is not enough. As shown at Company Maintains Threshold 100, the company must maintain its participation score at or above the participation threshold in order to stay in the health participation sweepstakes. If it does not, then the company loses its qualification to award the sweepstakes for the period, as represented by another path to End 90. If the company maintains its score above threshold, then at Event Drawing 102, a drawing is held and the winning company is identified over multiple media including the communication network. Next, at Company Awarded Incentive 104, the company is awarded the incentive that was provided for the period. Next, at Company Reset 106, the company's participation score is reset to 0 to make way for the next period's score and the process recycles to Start 82. The effect of this incentive is to provide a real reward, either financial or psychological, highlighting the achievement of all company personnel and celebrating the effective performance of the managers who orchestrated it. [00190] Also with reference to the same period, the process determines health participation sweepstakes eligibility of individual participants (i.e., employees; members of the company- wide population). When the participation data for the period have been measured for the period, at Member Reaches Threshold 92, a first test is applied to each participant in the population: if the participant's own individual participation score fails to meet the participation threshold for the period, then, as shown by the path to Member Reset 94 (deleting the participant's score from the health participation sweepstakes process to make way for the next period or, more usually, archiving that score and resetting it to zero) and to End 96, that participant will not be qualified for the health participation sweepstakes for the period. However, if the participant's participation score meets or exceeds the participation threshold for the period, then, at Company Reaches Threshold 108, a second test is applied with reference to company- wide performance: if the company's participation score failed to meet the participation threshold for the period, then neither this individual participant nor any other participant in this company will be qualified for the health participation sweepstakes. This outcome is disappointing, especially for individual participants who have made strong effort and exceeded the participation threshold. These individuals are likely to find ways of pressuring others to "get with the program!" In this case, the next step is at Incentive Carries Over 1 18: the incentive that would have been awarded, had the health participation sweepstakes been held for this period, is carried over to the next period, resulting in a cumulative jackpot. Additionally, at Company Reset 120, the company's participation score is cleared from the health participation sweepstakes process to make way for the next period's participation score.

[00191] From employing this process, the inventors discovered that the next period's even larger incentive not only (1) intensifies the incentive of strong participants to continue and increase their participation and (2) intensifies the social pressures - possibly even "guilt" - experienced by the lagging participants, but also (3) provides a change in the incentive, perfectly timed, to overcome psychological resistance in the lagging participants. Whatever story the participants told themselves about why they would not participate or why they would not be sensitive to social pressure, they now have a new story to tell themselves about why they will participate: "It's different now. The incentive is meaningful. I'm getting with the program today, the first day of the new month!"

[00192] With continued reference to Fig. 16, in the more rewarding situation in which both the company's participation score and the individual participant's participation score meet or exceed the participation threshold for the period, at Member Event 1 10, a health participation sweepstakes drawing takes place and the winner is identified via multiple media including the communication network. Next, at Individual Awarded Incentive 112, the incentive for the period is awarded to the winning participant. At Incentive Resets 116, the incentive amount is reset to an original amount. Finally, after the company's score is cleared at Company Reset 120, the process cycles back to Start 82. [00193] Thus, it can be appreciated that while embodiments of the present invention can be administered by a company's own wellness program administrator or by a health insurance company or wellness consultant on contract with the company, they can almost as easily be administered by an insurer or consultant contracting with a group of companies, each of them eligible for the incentive, or not, depending on their respective aggregate (population) participation scores. The incentive can include a large monetary reward to a winning company, such as a discount on its group health insurance premium. Additionally, an incentive awarded to a company, e.g., on the basis of a random drawing held only for those companies that have met or exceeded a participation threshold, focuses publicity and celebrity on the managers and executives who are recognized as having contributed to the positive outcome. Importantly, the measurement of an aggregate participation score for each manager's department makes it very likely that the truly effective managers and executives will be correctly identified and celebrated and that their outstanding contributions will be remembered during annual performance reviews.

[00194] Similarly, the invention's ease of deployment enables a wellness program administrator to begin attracting spouses and other persons related to the company or to its participating employees into the wellness program.

[00195] Moreover, extension of embodiments of the present invention across multiple companies and into spousal and other populations enables the gathering of objective health and fitness measurements from a larger and more diverse population than might be found at any one company, especially a smaller or medium-sized company or one entirely located at a single site. As a result, surveillance of risks and trends and monitoring of the effectiveness of wellness program activities is enhanced and the benefits can flow to all participants, not only to a few.

[00196] The inventors also envision that benefits obtained through practice of an embodiment or exemplary method of the present invention will increase with the extent to which described structure, cooperation and steps are integrated in the embodiment. For example, added potency may be derived in various ways by integrating the combination, or a subcombination, of such aspects of the invention as:

[00197] Determining eligibility for an incentive with reference both to individual participation and departmental (population) participation

[00198] Delivering aspects of a wellness program via workplace personal computers and convenient on-site audiovisual health assessment sessions [00199] Reporting health and participation data including a participation score immediately to each participant

[00200] Reporting selected participation information including both individual and aggregate (population) participation scores to managers

[00201] In its various aspects, the present invention advances the art of enterprise wellness management. In their own ways, the combination or subcombinations of aspects of the present invention tend to surround every individual in the organization with behavioral contingencies that drive the individual first to pay attention to the wellness program, then to participate, and finally to increase participation to meet peer pressure and management expectations.

[00202] For example, by operatively coupling the described progressive jackpot sweepstakes to the described measurement and reporting of participation in provided activities of a wellness program, an organization can take advantage of informal, even "viral," spread of information, ideas and motivations among individuals to accelerate the adoption of activities by its workforce.

[00203] Further advance is apparent in reporting the participant's own health and fitness data, including most recent measurements and related information based on risk factors, and still further by providing, within the same automated administration and measurement system, the capability at minimal incremental cost and with great convenience to re-test the participant's health and fitness at nearly any time and frequency. As a result, barriers to participation are virtually eliminated. Rewards for doing so are also enhanced, including '"instant gratification" in measurements, congratulations and feedback on health-impacting behavioral changes relative to personal health and fitness goals; also including the participant's ability to increase his or her participation score at nearly any time (individual perception of autonomy, control, self-efficacy).

[00204] Further advance is apparent in operatively coupling participation to a health participation sweepstakes, especially a preferred health participation sweepstakes whose reward is unpredictable as to timing and magnitude. Such a reward tends to be particularly compelling.

[00205] Further advance is also apparent in aspects of the manner in which the measurement and reporting of participation is operatively coupled to the administration of eligibility to enroll in the health participation sweepstakes. Objective measurements of participation are recorded and used, in conjunction with weighting factors associated with the respective activities, to compute a participation score. The participation score is used both to determine the individual participant's eligibility for the health participation sweepstakes - directly, as to the individual, and also indirectly, by considering the behavior of other individuals in the population. Eligibility enables the participant to enjoy an expectation of winning the prize awarded as the incentive.

[00206] In this context, it is noteworthy that (1) the weighting factors can be changed; (2) the manner in which they are coupled to the incentive event can be changed; (3) because objective measurements of participants' health and fitness are also being recorded and accumulated, they can be used in adjusting the weighting factors; (4) when the system has access to data correlating risk factors with objective health and fitness measurements and with external variables such as season, climate and epidemiologic data, these data can be used in adjusting the weighting factors; (5) when the system has access to health insurance claims data, current claims and claims history can be used in adjusting the weighting factors; and (5) data accumulated concerning the effectiveness of each defined wellness program activity in abating each risk can be used in ranking activities in their effectiveness against various risks and in adjusting the weighting factors.

[00207] Thus, embodiments in accordance with the present invention provide the capability to (1) identify a developing health risk in an individual and in a population, (2) identify one or more defined wellness program activities useful in addressing the risk, (3) increase the relative importance of the activity in determining eligibility for the health participation sweepstakes (increase that activity's weighting factor in determining participation scores), (4) inform participants of the increase, and (5) use the corporate home page, live coaching, managerial exhortation, peer pressure and word of mouth to educate participants about the risk and motivate them to respond effectively within the wellness program. [00208] In connection with these advances, the cost-effectiveness and detail of the remote assessment and coaching become especially valuable. Embodiments of the present invention apply a combination of technologies - two-way audiovisual communication the test wall with its specialized indicia, and measuring implements linked to the two-way audiovisual communication capability - to the problem of defining, communicating, measuring, reporting and motivating wellness program activities within an enterprise. As a result, the potent behavior-influencing effect of a cumulative-jackpot, periodic-drawing individual health participation incentive, for which availability is determined by combined measurements of group behavior and individual behavior, can be applied to drive behaviors having value in managing an emergent health risk. [00209] In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, accumulated health and fitness measurements are statistically mined for correlations with identified health risks, weighting factors are adjusted with reference to the correlations, participants are informed, and the behavioral changes that are triggered throughout the organization are measured, reported, congratulated and rewarded.

[00210] In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a seasonal risk is identified on the basis of public health data. In particular, the holiday season (November through January) has elevated incidence of diabetes, stroke and heart attack correlated with an increase in obesity. A seasonal increase in obesity is also noted from accumulated health and fitness measurements of participants in assessment and coaching sessions. Statistical inferences are made correlating several wellness program activities with reductions in obesity. External data concerning efficacy of activities are also applied in identifying activities tending to reduce obesity, heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. The weighting factors of one or more of these activities are adjusted on the basis of the correlations and external data. Participants are informed over all available channels that the weighting factors have been changed. Within days, an increase in participation in one or more of those activities is likely. When the increase is seen, participants are congratulated for their immediate response. Additionally, the added participation increases aggregate (pertaining to the entire population or company) participation scores. Because of the increased participation, the system notifies the population early of eligibility for the incentive event for the current incentive period. This notification further increases participation. The increased participation also exposes the participants to more holiday safety related messages. [00211] Also in the context of this example, the system for dealing with seasonal health risk also takes advantage of the increased participation to drive down the risk by acting quickly. Because immediate action is especially important, we can further increase the incentive, but only for quick action. This can be done by awarding added participation points for participation in selected wellness program activities within a short reward enhancement period. An exemplary enhancement is announced as follows: "Double participation points for any coaching session in the next ten days, if you also participate in goal-setting during the session and you follow up with re-testing three weeks later." This notice tends to result in a large number of coaching sessions, which are especially valuable because coaches are trained to guide a participant to make realistic commitments and live up to them. Additionally, the time-frame for accountability is also set when the re-test is scheduled - and the participant knows the coach will be calling to discuss the results! [00212] Another example is a seasonal incentive to enroll in an online class, offered in the wellness program, concerning driving safety, there being an elevated risk of automobile accident during the holidays.

[00213] With reference to the embodiments generally, the exemplary methods in accordance with the present invention are carried out using local area network, Internet, database and management information systems common to many companies and governmental agencies. [00214] A database of participant data records as well as records pertaining to coaches, administration, educational resources, health risks, population norms, a company's health and fitness goals, and an incentive program, operatively coupled to the participation program, is maintained in a corporate data processing facility. The participant data include data provided by participants, measurements made on the participants during assessment and coaching, and data pertaining to their participation in the wellness program. A Web site "front end" operatively coupled to the database provides widespread customer-facing presence of the wellness program via personal computers and data acquisition terminals.

EXAMPLE 1 - LIVE COACHING VIA VIDEO BACKBONE

[00215] The video backbone can be uniquely utilized to conduct Group Coaching sessions. This enables individuals who are reluctant to participate individually, due to a number of factors, to participate within a group. Group participation helps individuals to become more comfortable with audiovisual coaching on an individual basis, thereby enabling further health improvement of the organization. Likewise, Group Coaching facilitates a Team approach to health improvement.

Video Interface and Coaching Sessions:

[00216] Over a four-month period, video interface capability was installed at 19 locations located in several states in the United States and was used to conduct live video coaching sessions. The video interface included two-way audiovisual communication between a coach, who was typically seated at a video-equipped computer station, and a participant who was positioned between a camera-equipped flat screen video display as shown in Fig. 4 and a test wall as shown in Fig. 3. The activities planned for the coaching session included participation in a Group 'Biggest Loser' contest, individual coaching regarding specific health risks, and /or goal-based coaching focused on the specific goals of the individual. [00217] During a subset of the video sessions, a Health Risk Assessment was completed. The Health Risk Assessment included a self-administered blood assessment such as the one described with reference to Fig. 9. Coaching sessions were considered successful when the coach and the participant had established effective two-way communication and both had accomplished their planned objectives for the session.

Results:

[00218] Coaches conducted 533 successful live video coaching sessions with participants over the video interface. The mean interface time for the sessions was 7.25 minutes. Based upon independent third party survey analysis, over 90% of participants were 'Delighted' with the Coaching experience.

Interpretation:

[00219] The large number of coaching sessions successfully conducted and the member satisfaction during those sessions indicate that video coaching was accepted by participants and that the use of the video interface to conduct coaching sessions was effective in enabling a participant, at a workplace or other convenient location, to obtain the benefit of interacting with a live coach. The mean session interface time of 7.25 minutes indicates that communication was effective and enabled the coach and participant to efficiently accomplish their goals for the session. Geographic distance between participants and coaches should also be noted, for it indicates that the audiovisual coaching session achieves large cost savings relative to an on-site visit by a coach. With 533 successful live coaching sessions at 19 locations over 4 months, the mean number of sessions per location was 28 and the mean number of sessions per month per location was 7. It is unrealistic to schedule all participants at a location to participate during a single on-site visit by a coach. Therefore, on-site coaching of all participants would require a coach to visit each location several times. Considering geographic separation, even if the average time spent in transit per visit were one hour, difficulties with scheduling and with the travel of coaches drive up the cost of on-site coaching and drive down its acceptance by participants and their managers. In contrast, the live video coaching session in accordance with exemplary embodiments and methods of the present invention makes a coach available at a time convenient for the participant, overcoming a major barrier to acceptance by participants. Also in contrast, this is accomplished without a travel-related cost penalty, thereby overcoming a major barrier to acceptance by management.

EXAMPLE 2 - MEASURING AND REPORTING PARTICIPATION: [00220] A wellness program, including a mixture of on-site and live video sessions, was instituted at 14 facility locations of one company. Rates of participation in on-site and live video sessions were measured for each facility location over a period of four months. Beginning after the end of the first month, monthly reports were generated of participation rates by type of session and department. Aggregate participation rates for the entire company were also reported. The company CEO was given access to the aggregated data for each department and for the company overall. After reviewing each report, the CEO emailed the participation rate of each facility location to that facility location's manager.

Results:

[00221] The aggregate participation rates were 26%, 35%, 29% and 33% for the first, second, third and fourth month, respectively, yielding an average participation rate of 32% for the second, third and fourth months and thus a 23% improvement relative to the rate for the first month. It was reported that one manager, after receiving his facility location's participation data from the CEO, concluded that the data were important to the company and began exhorting his personnel to participate in the wellness program. That facility location's participation rate increased dramatically in the subsequent months. Based upon participation data gathered to date, at these locations, participation rates as high as 30% of the total population served have been achieved.

Interpretation:

[00222] The increase of the aggregate participation rate, from 26% before reporting had begun, to values within a range between 29% and 35% after reporting indicates that reporting of participation rates of respective facility locations to the CEO and, through the CEO, back to the respective facility location managers exerted a potent effect on the aggregate behavior of the company's personnel, noticeably increasing the aggregate participation rate within a month after reporting began. Maintenance of the aggregate participation rates for the subsequent months indicates that this effect was stable. The report of a manager campaigning to increase his facility's participation rate after receiving an email from the CEO suggests that a change in managerial behavior, resulting in social or supervisory pressure on that manager's personnel, was a mechanism of this effect. The participation rates of up to 30& compare extremely favorably with a national rate, mostly for participation by telephone, of less than 5%. EXAMPLE 3 - CUMULATIVE JACKPOT AS INCENTIVE: Participant population:

[00223] An isolated, rural group whose members had long been averse to participation in health-related activities had been observed during a 20-month period of participation in a wellness program which included on-site testing health testing and coaching. The participation rate of this population was measured and determined to be approximately 5%, a rate which was characterized as "dismal." To solve this abnormally low participation rate, the inventors devised for and tested this population with a participation incentive in accordance with the present invention.

Participation-linked jackpot:

[00224] At approximately the end of the 20th month of observation, the group was informed that a monetary incentive was being added to the wellness program. Specifically, they were informed that beginning immediately, (1) target participation rates was set for each interval (i.e., a month); (2) participation in the wellness program was measured each month; (3) at the end of an interval, a jackpot was paid to a participant randomly chosen from among the participants during that interval, but (4) only if the group's measured participation rate for that interval had met or exceeded the target participation rate for that interval, otherwise the jackpot was retained and increased; (5) the jackpot for the first interval was a $250; and (6) every time a jackpot was retained, it increased by $250.

[00225] The program, which involved audiovisual health testing and coaching, was carried out as described for four one-month intervals. The target rate was increased for each of the second, third and fourth months of the program.

Results:

[00226] The measured participation rate before the progressive jackpot was introduced was 10%. After the progressive jackpot was introduced, the rates were 5%, 10%, 21% and 30% at the end of the first, second, third and fourth intervals, respectively. Even though the target rates of participation were increased every month, the population met or exceeded the target rate for every month.

Interpretation:

[00227] The participation rate promptly doubled in the second month after the cumulative jackpot incentive was linked to participation in a previously instituted wellness program. By the end of the fourth month, the participation rate had increased six fold relative to the rate established before the incentive. These striking increases, observed in a group which had frustrated all prior efforts to improve its participation in wellness programs, indicate that the linkage of a cumulative jackpot to the rate of participation in a wellness program yields an unprecedented - indeed, surprising - increase in the population's rate of participation.

Motivating Participation In The Wellness Program

[00228] As can be seen from the drawing figures and from the description, each exemplary embodiment and exemplary method of the wellness program and its components in accordance with the present invention solves a problem by addressing the need for a compelling, immediate, comprehensive, easily administered, rapidly adopted system for setting health and physical fitness goals and for measuring, rewarding and celebrating their accomplishment.

[00229] Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any arrangement calculated to achieve same purposes can be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments of the invention. For example, the disclosed motivation system can be used to encourage a variety of other employee behaviors, such as encouraging Section 40 IK retirement investment and smart allocation of funds. It is to be understood that the above description has been made in an illustrative fashion, and not a restrictive one. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of various embodiments of the invention includes any other applications in which the above structures and methods are used. Therefore, the scope of various embodiments of the invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

[00230] In the foregoing description, if various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure, this method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments of the invention require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims, and such other claims as may later be added, are hereby incorporated into the description of the embodiments of the invention, with each claim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment.

Claims

CLAIMS:What is claimed is:

1. A method of motivating a population comprising at least one participant to participate in at least one provided activity of a wellness program, the method comprising the following steps implemented with at least one program running on a data processing and communication network to which the at least one participant has access: a. establishing for the at least one participant a personal participation measurement representing the at least one participant's participation in at least one provided activity; b. generating for the at least one participant a personal participation score computed from that participant's at least one personal participation measurement; c. generating for the population a population participation score computed from the set of established personal participation measurements of participants in the population; d. communicating to the at least one participant that participant's personal participation score; e. associating at least one manager with the population; and f. communicating said population participation score to said manager.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of establishing said personal participation measurement for the at least one participant includes the steps of: a. associating a weighting factor with the provided activity that the participant participated in that resulted in said measurement; and b. adjusting said personal participation measurement with reference to said weighting factor.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said population participation score is computed from the set of said at least one personal participation measurements of participants in the population.

4. The method of claim 3, further including the step of communicating said population participation score to said at least one participant.

5. A method of motivating participants constituting a population of participants to participate in a provided activity of a wellness program, comprising the steps, performed with at least one program running on a data processing and communication network, of: a. entering at least one individual participation score representative of the participation of each of at least one participant in at least one provided activity; b. entering a population participation score representative of the participation of the population of participants in said at least one provided activity; c. entering a population eligibility threshold and an individual eligibility threshold; d. determining at least one individual eligibility of at least one participant to be either "eligible" or "not eligible" with reference to said individual participation score and said individual eligibility threshold; e. determining a population eligibility to be either "eligible" or "not eligible" with reference to said population participation score and said population eligibility threshold; f. communicating said population eligibility to the population and communicating said at least one said individual eligibility to respective participants in the population; and g. conducting an incentive event in which a prize may be awarded to a participant selected from among the set of participants qualified to receive said prize, a. only participants of a population whose population eligibility is "eligible" being qualified to receive said prize, and b. among participants of any such population having an "eligible" population eligibility, only a participant whose individual eligibility is "eligible" being qualified to receive said prize.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said population eligibility and said at least one individual eligibility are reset to "not eligible" after said step of conducting said incentive event.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein: a. said population eligibility is determined to be "eligible" only if the population's participation score equals or exceeds said population eligibility threshold; and b. said individual eligibility of said at least one participant is determined to be "eligible" only if said at least one participant's individual participation score equals or exceeds said individual participation threshold.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein said incentive event includes a progressive jackpot sweepstakes, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of: a. entering a running jackpot amount and a jackpot increment amount; b. conducting a jackpot drawing event pursuant to which said running jackpot amount is awarded as said prize to a participant selected from among the participants qualified to receive said prize; c. decreasing said running jackpot amount by the amount awarded, if said prize is awarded; d. reporting the amount awarded, if any, to the population; e. reporting the amount awarded and the identity of the participant to which said amount was awarded, if any, to said participant; f. increasing said running jackpot amount by said present jackpot increment amount; and g. reporting said running jackpot amount to the population after increasing said running jackpot amount.

9. A method of motivating participation by a population of participants in a wellness program having at least one provided activity, comprising the steps, implemented with at least one program running on a data processing and two-way audiovisual communication network, of: a. conducting a provided activity in a live audiovisual interaction between a coach at a first location and a participant at a second location; b. recording at least one participation measurement with reference to said step of conducting said at least one provided activity; c. generating a participant report from said at least one participation measurement of the at least one participant; and d. communicating said participant report to the participant.

10. The method of claim 9, comprising steps of: a. maintaining a participant data record associated with the at least one participant; b. updating said participant data record with reference to said at least one participation measurement; c. generating said participant report from said participant data record; and d. communicating said updated participant data record to the participant.

11. The method of claim 9, comprising the steps of associating a manager with the participant and notifying said manager of said conducting of said provided activity.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising a step of causing a communication to be sent to the participant, said communication notifying the participant that said manager was notified of the conduct of said provided activity.

13. The method of claim 3, comprising the steps of: providing an incentive linked to the participation of at least one participant in at least one provided activity of the wellness program; providing an incentive administration function; generating an incentive administration report comprising said population participation score and said at least one individual participation score; and communicating said incentive administration report to said incentive administration function.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said incentive administration report is computed only with reference to participation occurring within a predetermined time period.

15. The method of claim 2, comprising the steps, implemented with said data processing and communication network, of: a. providing an incentive linked to the personal participation score of the at least one participant in the at least one provided activity; b. establishing for the at least one participant a personal health measurement representing a health-related observation made during the at least one participant's participation in at least one provided health evaluation of the wellness program; c. selecting, with reference to said personal health measurement, for the at least one participant, a personal health goal from the set of at least one provided personal health goals of the wellness program; d. establishing for the at least one provided activity an effectiveness factor representing the effectiveness of the at least one provided activity in accelerating attainment of said personal health goal; e. modulating said incentive with reference to said effectiveness factor.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of modulating said activity incentive comprises a step of modulating a weighting factor associated with the at least one provided activity.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said provided incentive is a sweepstakes and said incentive is also linked to said population participation score.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein a personal participation threshold and a population threshold are determined and where said incentive is the dependency of the at least one participant's qualification for said incentive upon a relation between said participant's personal participation score and said personal participation threshold, and is further dependent upon a relation between said population participation score and said population participation threshold.

19. Apparatus for motivating participation in a wellness program, comprising: a. a database configured to accumulate from repeated encounters over time a data record of a plurality of physiological measurements and a plurality of activity participation measurements with reference to each of a plurality of human beings in a population; a measurement station operatively coupled to said database and having capability to record physiological measurements of a human being; b. a coaching station and a participation station, each operatively coupled to said database and each capable of two-way audiovisual communication with the other; c. a sweepstakes process, implemented with reference to said database, creating a behavioral contingency including a reward of unpredictable magnitude and timing, d. said reward being certainly withheld from any participant whose activity participation score is below a predetermined threshold, e. said reward being certainly withheld from all participants in a population whose aggregate participation score is below a predetermined threshold, f. said participation scores being computed with reference to said activity participation measurements and with reference to activity weighting factors associated with respective ones of said activities, and g. said weighting factors being computed with reference to said physiological measurements.

20. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of reporting to the population the weighting factor associated with each of said at least one provided activity.

21. Apparatus for motivating at least one participant constituting a population to participate in a wellness program having at least one provided activity, the apparatus comprising: a. a data processing and communication network; b. a plurality of audiovisual terminal-equipped stations, communicating over said network, having capability to mediate live interaction between a participant and a remotely located coach over said network,

I. said stations further having capability to mediate the measurement of physiological conditions of said participant with said participant's cooperation and under the supervision of said coach;

II. said stations further having the capability to mediate the performance of a provided activity by a participant under the supervision of said coach and to present the demonstration of a provided activity by a coach to a participant; c. at least one program maintained on said network and configured to accumulate, from repeated instances over time of a participant's participation in a provided activity via said stations, a data record of:

I. at least one personal health measurement representing a health-related observation made during the at least one participant's participation in at least one provided health evaluation of the wellness program, and

II. at least one personal participation measurement representing the at least one participant's participation in at least one provided activity of the wellness program.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a blood pressure-measuring instrument.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising an instrument for determining body composition.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a participant exercise area within camera view and a visual background forming a template against which a participant may perform a bodily movement and a coach may remotely make and record quantitative visual observations of said movement via a camera.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, programmed to generate from said data record a participant report for each participant, said participant report comprising at least one personal health datum of said participant derived from said at least one personal health measurement of said participant and at least one personal participation datum of said participant derived from said personal participation measurement of said participant; and to communicate to each participant that participant's participant report.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, programmed to identify at least one manager of the population, to generate with reference to said data record a manager report comprising at least one population participation datum representing a measure of the participation of the population in the at least one provided activity, and to communicate said manager report to said manager.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, programmed to generate with reference to said data record a manager report comprising at least one participation datum of the at least one participant.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, programmed to detect a participant's completion of a provided activity and, when such is detected, to notify a manager of the participant of said completion.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further programmed to cause a communication to be sent to the participant, said communication notifying the participant that the manager was notified that the participant participated in at least one provided activity of the wellness program.

30. The apparatus of claim 21, programmed: a. to maintain for each participant at least one current personal health score computed from said participant's personal health measurements and at least one current personal participation score computed from said participant's personal participation measurements; b. to report said current personal health score and said current personal participation score to said participant; and c. to compute a current population participation score from the aggregated current personal participation scores of participants of the population and to report said current population participation score to a manager of said population.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, further programmed to report said weighting factors associated with said provided activities, and said current population participation score, to said participant.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein: a. a weighting factor is associated with each of said provided activities; b. said current personal participation score is computed by multiplying each of said participation measurements by the weighting factor associated with the activity participated in for each instance of participation; c. a weighting factor is associated with each of said physiological measurements; d. said current personal health score is computed by multiplying each of said personal health measurements by the weighting factor associated with that personal health measurement.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, further programmed to report said weighting factors associated with said provided activities, and said current population participation score, to said participant.

34. Apparatus for motivating a population and participants in the population to participate in a provided wellness program, comprising: a. a data processing and communication network programmed to conduct an incentive event in which, if a selected participant is provided, there is at least a possibility that a prize will be awarded to the selected participant; b. said network being programmed to enter at least one recorded measurement of the participation of the population in at least one provided activity of the wellness program and to generate a population participation score for said population from said at least one measurement; c. said network being programmed to enter at least one recorded measurement of the participation of a participant in at least one provided activity of the wellness program and to generate an individual participation score for said participant from said at least one measurement; d. said network being programmed to enter a provided population eligibility threshold and a provided individual eligibility threshold; e. said network being programmed to determine a population eligibility to be either "eligible" or "not eligible" with reference to said population participation score and said population eligibility threshold; f. said network being programmed to determine at least one individual eligibility of at least one participant to be either "eligible" or "not eligible" with reference to said individual participation score and said individual eligibility threshold; g. said network being programmed to communicate said population eligibility to the population and to communicate said at least one said individual eligibility to the corresponding at least one participant in the population.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further programmed to set either said at least one individual eligibility or said population eligibility or both equal to zero after communicating same.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, further programmed to determine for each of said at least one individual participant in the population whether that participant may be selected in said incentive event, such that the participant may be selected only if said population eligibility is "eligible" and said participant's individual eligibility is "eligible."

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein said incentive event includes a jackpot sweepstakes, and wherein said network is further programmed: a. to enter a running jackpot amount and a jackpot increment amount; b. to select as a provided participant from the set of participants who may be selected; c. to conduct a jackpot drawing event pursuant to which said running jackpot amount is awarded, with finite probability, to a provided participant; d. to decrease said running jackpot amount by the amount awarded, if any; e. to report the amount awarded, if any, to the population; f. to report the amount awarded and the identity of the participant to which it was awarded, if any, to said participant; g. to increase said running jackpot amount by said present jackpot increment amount; and h. to report said running jackpot amount to the population.

38. A method of motivating a first population comprising at least one individual participant to participate in at least one provided activity of a wellness program, the method comprising the following steps implemented with at least one program running on a data processing and communication network to which the at least one participant has access: a. creating an instance participation measurement and maintaining an instance data record with respect to each of at least one instances of one of at least one participant participating in one of at least one provided activity; b. computing an instance participation value with respect to each of said at least one instance data record; c. generating a personal participation score for said at least one participant with respect to a subset of the set of said instance participation values pertaining to an instance of participation by said one participant and communicating said personal participation score to said identified one participant; d. aggregating said personal participation scores into a first population participation score for a subset of participants in the first population,; e. identifying at least one manager of said first population; and f. communicating said first population participation score to said manager.

39. The method of claim 38, with the further steps of: a. determining, for each of said at least one participant who is a manager of a second population (hereinafter, "managing participant"), whether a second population participation score for said second population has been reported to said managing participant; and b. communicating said second population participation score to said manager if said second population participation score has been reported to said managing participant.

40. The method of claim 39, with the further steps of: a. determining whether a second population participation score is being communicated to said manager and, if so, determining the number of participants in said second population and associating said number of participants with said second population participation score; and b. reporting to said manager said number of participants associated with said second population participation score.

41. The method of claim 40, with the further steps of determining whether at least one second population participation score and at least one number of participants in said second population are being reported to a manager and, if so, then for each of at least one of said second population participation score, computing the product of said second population participation score and said number of participants in said second population and increasing said manager's population participation score before reporting same to a manager of said manager.

42. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of reporting to the population the weighting factor associated with each of said at least one provided activity.

43. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of reporting to the population the weighting factor associated with each of said at least one provided activity.

44. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of reporting to the population the weighting factor associated with each of said at least one provided activity.

45. The method of claim 1, comprising the further steps of: a. entering a predetermined personal participation score goal value and a predetermined population participation score goal value; b. computing a personal participation status with reference to said personal participation score and said predetermined personal participation score goal value and displaying a graphic representation of said personal participation status with said reported personal population score; and c. computing a population participation status with reference to said population participation score and said predetermined population participation score goal value and displaying a graphic representation of said population participation status with said reported population participation score.

46. The method of claim 44, comprising the further steps of: a. entering a predetermined personal participation score goal value and a predetermined population participation score goal value; b. computing a personal participation status with reference to said personal participation score and said predetermined personal participation score goal value and displaying a graphic representation of said personal participation status with said reported personal population score; and c. computing a population participation status with reference to said population participation score and said predetermined population participation score goal value and displaying a graphic representation of said population participation status with said reported population participation score.

47. The method of claim 25, comprising the further steps of: a. entering a predetermined personal participation datum goal value and a predetermined population participation datum goal value; b. computing a personal participation status with reference to said personal participation datum and said predetermined personal participation datum goal value and displaying a graphic representation of said personal participation status with said reported personal population score; and c. computing a population participation status with reference to said population participation datum and said predetermined population participation score goal value and displaying a graphic representation of said population participation status with said reported population participation datum.

48. The method of claim 33, comprising the further steps of: a. entering a predetermined personal participation score goal value and a predetermined population participation score goal value; b. computing a personal participation status with reference to said personal participation score and said predetermined personal participation score goal value and displaying a graphic representation of said personal participation status with said reported personal population score; and c. computing a population participation status with reference to said population participation score and said predetermined population participation score goal value and displaying a graphic representation of said population participation status with said reported population participation score.

49. The method of claim 34, the network being programmed to: a. enter a predetermined personal participation score goal value and a predetermined population participation score goal value; b. compute a personal participation status with reference to said personal participation score and said predetermined personal participation score goal value and display a graphic representation of said personal participation status with said reported personal population score; and c. compute a population participation status with reference to said population participation score and said predetermined population participation score goal value and display a graphic representation of said population participation status with said reported population participation score.

50. The method of claim 37, the network being programmed to: a. enter a predetermined personal participation score goal value and a predetermined population participation score goal value; b. compute a personal participation status with reference to said personal participation score and said predetermined personal participation score goal value and display a graphic representation of said personal participation status with said reported personal population score; and c. compute a population participation status with reference to said population participation score and said predetermined population participation score goal value and display a graphic representation of said population participation status with said reported population participation score.

51. The method of claim 38, the network being programmed to: a. enter a predetermined personal participation score goal value and a predetermined population participation score goal value; b. compute a personal participation status with reference to said personal participation score and said predetermined personal participation score goal value and display a graphic representation of said personal participation status with said reported personal population score; and c. compute a population participation status with reference to said population participation score and said predetermined population participation score goal value and display a graphic representation of said population participation status with said reported population participation score.

52. The method of claim 41, the network being programmed to: a. enter a predetermined personal participation score goal value and a predetermined population participation score goal value; b. compute a personal participation status with reference to said personal participation score and said predetermined personal participation score goal value and display a graphic representation of said personal participation status with said reported personal population score; and c. compute a population participation status with reference to said population participation score and said predetermined population participation score goal value and display a graphic representation of said population participation status with said reported population participation score.