Worksite Environment and Employee Health Strategies: A research study

Employers have a unique opportunity to support and encourage employee health, by offering wellness programs and creating environments to support healthy choices. In turn, these efforts afford the employer with healthier, more productive employees.

The American Cancer Society has designed the Nutrition and Physical Activity (NuPA) Study to test effectiveness of a telephone-based, cognitive-behavioral intervention compared to self-help materials for the purpose of establishing a healthy lifestyle. The NuPA study was offered to 54 employers throughout the nation and 2100 participants voluntarily enrolled in the study. Hypotheses include the participants in the intervention group will be more successful in losing weight and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption than those in the comparison group.

In addition to recruiting study participants, many employers offered on-site weigh in stations for their participating employees. These participants voluntarily completed scheduled weigh ins at baseline, 6-months and 12-months post enrollment. Preliminary analysis of the 6-month follow-up data revealed that having a weigh in station at the participants' worksite did not significantly influence weight loss. Overweight and obese participants lost an average of 4.6 pounds at 6 months post enrollment (p<0.001). Overweight and obese participants in the intervention who completed 6 of the 9 telephone sessions lost the most weight (2.5 lb, p<.05). Fruit and vegetable consumption increased by an average of 1 serving per day (p<0.001), regardless of intervention or on-site weigh in station. Additional discussion will include findings with full data as well as intervention strategies.