Environmental approaches to obesity prevention and management at the Dow Chemical Company: First year results

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Ron Z. Goetzel, PhD¹, David M. DeJoy, PhD², Mark Wilson, HSD², Ronald J. Ozminkowski, PhD³, David Shechter, PhD³, Jennifer R. Schneider, MPH, PhD³, Enid Chung Roemer, PhD¹, and Maryam J. Tabrizi, MS, CHES³. (1) Institute for Health and Productivity Studies, Cornell University Institute for Policy Research, 4301 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 330, Washington, DC 20008, 202-719-7850, ron.goetzel@thomson.com, (2) Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, 300 River Road, Athens, GA 30602, (3) Health and Productivity Research, Thomson Medstat, 777 East Eisenhower Parkway, 903R, Ann Arbor, MI 48108

In a project funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), The Cornell University Institute for Health and Productivity Studies teamed with Thomson Medstat, the University of Georgia, the National Business Group on Health, and the Dow Chemical Company to design, implement, and evaluate an environmental and ecological intervention program aimed at preventing and managing overweight and obesity in the workplace. The objective of this research is to evaluate the incremental effects of introducing moderate and intense levels of environmental interventions directed at reducing overweight and obesity. Specifically, the researchers will evaluate program impacts on key outcome measures including trends in a) body mass index and other weight-related biometric measures, b) behavioral health risk factors, c) weight-related health conditions, d) health care utilization and medical expenditures, e) employee productivity measured in terms of absenteeism and on-the-job presenteeism, and f) return on investment (ROI).

Moderate interventions include inexpensive environmental changes such as signs encouraging the use of stairs and labels denoting healthy vending machine items. High intensity interventions involve engagement of senior managers in development of a worksite culture that is broadly supportive of improved health. Control sites are subject to Dow's existing core health promotion program consisting of individually-oriented interventions. The session will review the design, implementation and process evaluation of moderate and high intensity interventions. Session leaders will discuss results to date including data regarding environmental and leadership assessment, and baseline health risk and biometric data. Plans for conducting an economic impact analysis will also be presented.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe innovative moderate and high intensity environmental interventions aimed at reducing obesity and overweight in the workplace.
• Describe the use and the importance of process evaluation in assessing program implementation and reach, in addition to refining program delivery.
• Describe the evaluation design features, and associated health and financial outcome measures that are important in evaluating worksite health promotion and disease prevention programs.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation

Successful Strategies in Worksite Health Promotion

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA