CDC: 'Promising practices' encourage healthy behavior
Employers can have an impact on employee's lifestyle choices through a variety of workplace interventions. Here are some identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its LEAN Works program:
Environmental and Policy Strategies
Environmental and policy strategies address the entire work force or populations (not individuals) and targeted physical and organizational structures through developing worksite and public policies that support healthy behaviors. They are likely to be sustained for a longer period of time than individually oriented strategies.
Promising Practice #1: Enhanced access to opportunities for physical activity combined with health education
Enhanced access to opportunities for physical activity combined with health education are practices that enable or facilitate access to physical activity programs, workshops, classes, and other resources in a worksite setting. Such practices can include developing walking trails, building a fitness center at the worksite, or creating a par course (fitness trail).
Informational and Educational Strategies
Informational and educational strategies focus on the provision of information designed to increase awareness and knowledge as a requisite to motivate behavioral change. These strategies present both general health information, including information about weight loss and maintenance, chronic disease prevention and risk reduction, and specific information about physical activity and nutrition. These strategies do not include any environmental and policy strategies.
Promising Practice #2: Exercise prescriptions alone
Exercise prescription involves a planned or structured physical activity regimen given to an individual or group that includes specific recommendations for the frequency, intensity, and type of exercise. The practices reviewed involved recruiting participants into voluntary groups at the worksite. After completing physical fitness evaluations, participants are placed in exercise training programs of mild, moderate, or vigorous intensity.
Promising Practice #3: Multicomponent educational practices
Multicomponent educational practices are aimed at providing information, with the curriculum/modules addressing health promotion programs (e.g., healthy lifestyles, physical activity, and nutrition) and risk reduction programs (e.g., weight management, cardiovascular [CVD] risks, and diabetes risks). In addition to health education sessions, these studies incorporated components such as 1) exercise prescription; 2) nutrition prescription; and 3) small media (e.g., brochures, pamphlets, electronic messages).
Based on the program description and what was reported by the author, these multicomponent practices all offered a health education class combined with exercise prescription and nutrition prescription and small media. These practices were evaluated together because it was not possible to separate health education from other components.
Behavioral Strategies
Behavioral strategies for obesity and prevention control focus on teaching behavioral management skills and structuring the social environment to provide support for people trying to initiate or maintain weight change. Strategies often include individual or group behavioral counseling and will often involve co-workers, family members, and other intermediaries who are part of an individual's social environment.
Behavioral methods may involve modeling or demonstration, participatory skill development, individual benchmarking (i.e., goal setting and achievement), providing feedback, providing incentives or disincentives, or providing materials necessary to enhance the desired behavior (e.g., pedometer, food journals).
Promising Practice #4: Weight-loss competitions and incentives
Competitions and incentives consist of rewards for weight loss and behavioral change to increase physical activity or improve nutrition. The rewards can be in-kind, financial, or the honor or pride of winning. The incentives can vary in size and by type and can be used for screening, enrollment, compliance (i.e., staying in the program), completing the program, and maintenance of the changes after completing the program. These practices do not include teaching behavioral management skills, modeling or demonstration, or participatory skill development.
Promising Practice #5: Behavioral practices with or without incentives
Behavioral practices teach participatory skill development and build social support for behavioral patterns. Such practices can be complemented by incentives for completing the program.
Employers can have an impact on employee's lifestyle choices through a variety of workplace interventions. Here are some identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its LEAN Works program:You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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