Joulvous Drake Doctoral Project Proposal Defense, Friday, December 5, 2025 @ 11:00 am Central Time

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Chloe Gaines

TITLE: UTILIZATION OF AN ON-SITE PRIMARY CARE CLINIC – AN EVALUATION

ABSTRACT: Employers are increasingly incorporating on-site primary care clinics into their workplace health strategies to improve access to care, lower costs, and reduce employee absenteeism. However, even with these clear advantages, many organizations report low clinic utilization levels. Purpose: This process evaluation aims to identify behavioral and structural factors influencing employee use of an on-site corporate primary care clinic. Approaches: Current approaches to the problem emphasize cost savings and claims reduction, yet few studies employ a structured behavioral framework to explain utilization patterns. This gap limits the ability of employers and clinicians to design interventions that directly address employee perceptions, awareness, and motivation. Question: The central evaluation question is: What factors or barriers contribute to employees’ low utilization of the on-site primary care clinic? Methodology: The evaluation is guided by the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation–Behavior (COM-B) model, which provides a theory-driven method to examine determinants of health-related behavior. A quantitative, cross-sectional design will be used, incorporating the Worksite Clinic Utilization Questionnaire (WCUQ) developed for this study. The survey will be administered to approximately 1,000 eligible full-time employees at a Northeastern U.S. corporate campus. The instrument measures clinic awareness, convenience, confidentiality, and employee motivation using Likert-scale items and open-ended responses. Data analysis will employ descriptive statistics, reliability testing, and non-parametric comparisons, supplemented by thematic analysis of qualitative responses. Conclusion: The significance of this project reflects the application of the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation–Behavior (COM-B) model, providing a scientific behavioral framework utilized in evaluating on-site primary health clinics and clarifying constituents used as influencers to employee engagement with provided on-site primary care services.

 Location Online:

Zoom Link:

https://pvpanther.zoom.us/j/94384764170?pwd=RFa3PQiymcHpq03HXNC99XR2MsPfze.1

Meeting ID: 943 8476 4170

Passcode: 180925