Group engagement influences participant outcomes in a worksite translation of DPP

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) has been successfully translated to community settings using small groups. FUEL Your Life (FYL) is a worksite translation of DPP focusing on healthier eating and increased physical activity. One study arm is delivery of the program through small groups facilitated by a health coach. Previous DPP translations, although successful, have not examined outcomes as a function of group-level engagement. This presentation will use process evaluation data to explore effects of group-level engagement. Group-based FYL was conducted with 80 city-county government employees (40% female, average age 43, 64% white, 34% African American). Ten groups including five to nine participants met eight times over a six-month period. At each session, coaches ranked individual engagement as low, moderate, or high, and assigned a value of 1, 2, and 3, respectively. A group’s engagement level was calculated by averaging the total participant engagement over all eight sessions. Group engagement scores declined from 2 to 1.6 during the six-month intervention period.  Groups (n=5) that scored above 2, considered moderately to highly engaged, lost a greater percentage of body weight (mean = 3%) compared to groups (n=5) that scored below 2 (mean = 0.6%). Moderately- to highly-engaged groups also had higher attendance and retention during the intervention. This presentation will discuss factors that influence participant and group-level engagement and provide suggestions for increasing overall engagement in a worksite.