Implementing Physical Activity and Healthy Eating Strategies on Paid Time: UCLA WORKING Project Study

Background/Objective: Organizational-based wellness and health promotion has emerged as a viable strategy for promoting norms and policies that support healthy lifestyles and enhancing organizational productivity. The organizational-level paradigm for obesity prevention is currently evolving. Centered on engaging captive audiences within socially enriched organizational settings (e.g. public/private/non-profit workplaces), this new paradigm aims to modify sociocultural norms and policies to include physical activity and healthy eating options during non-discretionary paid time. The UCLA WORKING Project pilot study focused on integrating physical activity and healthy nutrition policies and practices (e.g., daily exercise breaks, walking meetings, and nutrient-rich foods at sponsored events) into the routine conduct of business. This abstract presents a process evaluation of WORKING that assessed the extent and quality of implementation across the organizations randomized to the intervention, and identifies factors that facilitated or inhibited intervention implementation. Methods: Fifteen WORKING sites were randomly assigned to an intervention condition. Sites were assessed throughout the stages of site recruitment, facilitators' training, implementation, and monitored for 6 months following initial implementation. Qualitative process data was gathered through routine site visits, participant observation, and key informant interviews. Results: Following an iterative analysis of the data, worksites were assigned to four implementation success categories based on their ability to fully implement four core intervention strategies. Six key factors emerged that were related to implementation success. Conclusion: Lessons learned from this study have informed the conduct of the full-scale WORKING study; a cluster randomized controlled trial intervention involving 60-80 worksites in Los Angeles County.