Using formative research to develop environmental and ecological interventions to address overweight and obesity

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Environmental Health Interventions
• Workplace Wellness

Background:

• Formative research is crucial for designing effective workplace health interventions.
• Understanding the current employee health status and organizational environment is key to successful implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct formative research for a multi-site intervention study.
• To assess the feasibility of introducing environmental and ecological health interventions in the workplace.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods approach including environmental assessments, surveys, focus groups, interviews, and archival data analysis.
• Collected data on employee health, job factors, physical environment, social-organizational climate, and existing health programs.

Main Results:

• High prevalence of overweight or obesity (83%) among employees.
• Strong leadership support for health initiatives and perceived success in integration.
• Varied environmental assessment scores (47-19/100) and differing perceptions of health climate between personnel and leadership.

Conclusions:

• Selected interventions include enhancing healthy food options, creating walking paths, targeted messaging, and leadership training.
• Strategies aim to integrate health initiatives into organizational operations for sustained impact.
• Establishing leaders at the work group level to champion health initiatives.