Addressing Obesity Among a Worksite Nurse-Managed Health Clinic Patient Population
Nature and scope of the project
A recent study at the Flying Food O’Hare worksite found that 42% of employees are obese. The purpose of this program was to work with the Flying Food Nurse Managed Health Clinic (NMHC) to increase self-efficacy and reduce the Body Mass Index (BMI) for overweight and obese employees through the creation and delivery of a worksite, evidence-based weight reduction self-management program.
Synthesis and analysis of supporting literature
Worksite health promotion programs aimed at improving employee diet and physical activity have a modest reduction in weight and in the development of new behavior changes (Ostbye et al., 2015; Rongen, Robroek, van Lenthe & Burdorf, 2015). Systematic review conducted by CDC Task Force on Community Preventive Studies, behavioral counseling was found to be more effective than educational sessions offered alone
Project implementation
Following an obesity assessment, employees were directed into one of two components of this project. First, employees identified as high-risk had the option to participate in six facilitated motivational interviewing and individual obesity counseling sessions across 12 weeks with the project facilitator. Second, all employees, regardless of risk-stratification, were invited to participate in three “Lunch and Learn” education programs regarding health eating, behaviors, and physical activity.
Evaluation criteria
The quantitative data collection that evaluated impact and success of this program rested primarily on pre and post measurements of two main outcomes: physiological measures (BMI and weight) and eating self-efficacy.
Outcomes
MI participants will reduce their weight by 5% at end of 12-week intervention period.
MI participants will demonstrate an increase in self-efficacy by a 1-point improvement in the ESE scale as illustrated in a post-survey assessment at end of a 12-week program.
Recommendations
This program should get modified from its current form and tailored in a manner that can best address the specific workplace constraints and barriers that many low-wage workers face in their efforts to achieve healthy lifestyles.. Given the low participation for the onsite educational sessions and high attrition rate in the 12-week counseling program, shifting from an in-person intervention to a technology-based intervention may increase participation and improve retention among employees, while still benefiting from weekly face-to-face contact with an APN.
Addressing Obesity Among a Worksite Nurse-Managed Health Clinic Patient Population