Environmental Intervention for Weight Gain Prevention (HealthWorks)

University of Minnesota (UMN)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Obesity

Treatments: Behavioral: weight gain prevention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00708461

0408S62609

5R01DK067362 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The primary aim of this research is to evaluate the efficacy of a multicomponent worksite-based, environmental intervention in reducing weight increase and obesity over time in working adults.

Full description

This study is a randomized trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-component worksite intervention with strong environmental components to prevent weight gain. Six worksites will be randomized to either an intervention or a no-treatment control group. The intervention will be comprised of 1) changing the availability, portion sizes, and prices of foods and beverages sold to employees in their worksites in ways that encourage healthier food choices; 2) increasing the availability of physical activity opportunities at the worksite by implementing walking programs and increasing stairwell access and attractiveness; 3) placing scales in the work environment to encourage body weight monitoring and to enable workers to set goals for their weight; and 4) to provide educational materials to all employees to make them aware of the environmental intervention and of behavioral practices likely to be effective in preventing weight gain. The intervention will be implemented for a 2-year period in each intervention site. Effectiveness will be evaluated by assessing body weight, eating behavior and physical activity in a cohort of employees in both control and intervention sites at baseline and again 2 years later. Weight trends in these populations will also be compared to data from national and state-level annual surveys of weight in representative population samples. Data will be collected on the effects of specific intervention components via aggregate measures of food choice and physical activity.

Enrollment: 1,747 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 70 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• age 18 or older
• generally in good health
• part- or full-time employee in one of the participating worksites

Exclusion criteria

• work on site <50% of the time
• work second or third shift

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

1,747 participants in 2 patient groups

Worksite Environmental Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Changes to healthy food availability, physical activity opportunities and promotion, body weight scale access, and media enhancements to target weight gain prevention

Treatment:

Behavioral: weight gain prevention

No-contact control

No Intervention group

Description:

No-treatment control condition. Worksites were offered program materials upon completion of programs at intervention sites.