Physical Activity and Nutritional Optimization at Worksites for Cancer Prevention: A Pilot Study

Issue: Cancer is the number one cause of death among working-age adults. Approximately one-third of these deaths are related to obesity, lack of physical activity, or poor nutrition. Most working American adults spend half of their waking hours at their worksite, where food and physical activity choices are affected. Worksite wellness programs improve employee health and productivity, reduce absenteeism, and reduce health care costs by promoting preventative, healthy behaviors. Description: A series of one-page fact sheets was created as part of the American Cancer Society's Workplace Solutions initiative. The purpose of the fact sheets was to provide worksites with targeted implementation measures for specific topics in order to ease the process of identifying and adapting healthier workplace practices. The three pilot fact sheets covered “How to Host a Healthy Vending Machine”, “How to Cater a Healthy Work Meeting”, and “How to Promote Physical Activity at Your Worksite.” The fact sheets were pilot-tested with expert industry professionals via survey. Lessons Learned: Feedback from experts was positive, with 98 percent of responses to the ten survey items reporting they were either “mostly” or “completely” fulfilled by the fact sheets. Minor modifications were made based on their recommendations. The results of the surveys will be presented in the poster and implications for dissemination will be discussed. Recommendations: Modified fact sheets must be pilot tested with additional experts and integrated into American Cancer Society outreach to worksites. Additional one-page fact sheets should be created to meet other needs identified by worksites.