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Development of Internet weight loss programs may be a viable method for reducing the public health burden of obesity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Internet for delivery of weight control programs. Participants (10M, 81F; age=40.9; BMI=29.0) were randomly assigned to receive Internet Behavior Therapy (IBT, n=46) or an Internet Education program (IEd, n=45). Participants in IEd were given an initial face-to-face meeting and directed to weight loss related websites they could use to develop their own weight loss program, but were given no further help to do this. Participants in IBT received this meeting, access to the same website resources plus additional behavioral procedures, all delivered via Internet and e-mail, including a sequence of weekly behavioral weight loss lessons; prompting for submission of weekly self-monitoring diaries; personalized feedback; and an on-line bulletin board for social support. Attrition (15%) was not different between conditions. Weight losses measured at 12 weeks were significantly greater for IBT (-9.0 lbs ± 5.9lbs) than IEd (-2.98 lbs ± 5.7lbs; p<.001). Furthermore, significantly more participants in IBT lost ≥ 1 pound per week (32% IBT vs. 13% ISH; p<.05). Participants in IBT also logged into the website significantly more often than those in IEd (19.7 ± 10.3 times vs. 9.6 ± 10.5 times; p<.001). Simply providing access to weight loss related websites produced minimal weight loss. However, an Internet program incorporating behavioral procedures appears a promising new weight loss approach. / Ph. D.

Introduction: Adult obesity is a significant public health problem, increasing chronic disease and resulting in health and economic implications. The worksite environment provides a setting for comprehensive Worksite Health Promotion programs that can benefit employees and employers. However, the literature identifies barriers to implementation of WHP programs and achievement of positive outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine if a DeKalb County Board of Health Employee Wellness Policy that provides work breaks during the workday for employees to engage in wellness activities has resulted in actual use of the break and employee perceived benefits. The study also examined barriers to use of the wellness break. Methods: In collaboration with the DeKalb County Board of Health, a cross-sectional study of 187 employees across eight locations was conducted. The survey instrument included both quantitative and qualitative questions and was administered electronically or in person via group administration. Results: Of survey respondents, 74% knew about the Employee Wellness Policy, 57% understood policy guidelines, and 41% had ever used wellness breaks. Respondents most often reported using wellness breaks for physical activity, most often for walking/jogging. A majority of employees using wellness breaks reported positive outcomes including: increased physical activity (64.4%), weight loss (65.2%), increased productivity (79.5%), improved work relationships (86%), increased work morale (64.4%), and increased overall positive outlook (69.9%). Barriers to utilization included: lack of time, lack of knowledge, lack of encouragement from management, and clinical setting. Management employees were significantly more likely to know about the policy and understand policy guidelines compared to non-management employees. Clinical employees were significantly less likely to ever use wellness breaks and less likely to feel their manager supports the policy. Conclusion: Sampled employees participating in wellness breaks perceive health and work-related benefits; however barriers have prevented some employees from utilizing the breaks. Quantitative and qualitative data may inform wellness policy changes for improved utilization and outcomes. Findings related to self-reported employee outcomes provide some support for a discretionary paid work break policy in the workplace.

Master of Science / Department of Kinesiology / Emily Mailey / Background: Many adults spend a majority of their time at work engaging in primarily sedentary behaviors. Creating a health-promotion program can increase awareness of the importance of physical activity as well as provide benefits to the employee and employers. The main purpose of this study was to compare physical activity, motivation and support levels between participants and non-participants of a workplace movement challenge. Additionally, we examined factors associated with average steps and reasons for participating and not participating in the challenge.   Methods: Information about the four-week movement challenge was sent by email to all employees. Steps were monitored by personal activity trackers (e.g. pedometer, Fitbit, etc.) and self-reported at the end of each week. Steps were averaged within departments and a departmental leader board was posted weekly to encourage competition across campus. All individuals who participated in the program were invited to complete a brief follow-up survey one month later. Non-participants of the program were invited to complete a similar survey at the same time. To analyze the data we used t-tests and correlation tests. Results:  Of the 6,798 employees who received an email about the Movement Challenge, 650 (9.6%) submitted at least one survey and 376 completed all four surveys. Results of the follow-up survey showed employees with a departmental team leader accumulated significantly more steps than employees without a team leader (p= 0.03). Additionally, average steps were significantly associated with both social support (r=.21; p<.01) and motivation subscales including identified regulation and intrinsic regulation. Those who enrolled in the program reported they liked the tracking/accountability and departmental competition best. Participants of the program reported greater total physical activity (p< .001), total social support (p< .001), introjected regulation (p< .001), identified regulation (p< .002) and intrinsic regulation (p< .01) levels compared to those who did not enroll in the program. Conclusion: Worksite wellness campaigns can increase physical activity among employees, but additional strategies are needed to increase participation. The results of this study suggest future programs should increase competition and increase contribution from team leaders. They should also include team support across departments to build support within the program.

Obesity related employer healthcare costs increased 8% from 2010 to 2011 (PwC, 2012; Durden, 2008), which has spurred an increase in worksite weight management programs. Due to minimal success of individually focused programs (Anderson, 2009; Mhurchu, 2010), efforts have shifted to the potential impact of environmental interventions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of a red, yellow, and green (R/Y/G) point of purchase (POP) labeling system on perceived health literacy and purchasing behaviors at three on-campus eateries frequented by university faculty and staff. Foods were rated as red, yellow, or green based on the Nutrient Rich Food Index. All foods were labeled with stickers that looked like miniature traffic lights with the appropriate color light lit up through menu boards and nametags. Posters, emails and table tents were also used to communicate about the intervention. In order to provide various levels of exposure, the first eatery had the intervention for six weeks, the second for four weeks, and the last for two weeks. Eatery patrons (N=191 across the three locations) completed a paper and pencil pre-intervention survey assessing healthy eating intentions, knowledge, and behaviors. Post-intervention data collection was conducted via online survey (N=89), and consisted of the pre-test items and additional questions about label awareness and utilization. While the intervention did not appear to influence healthy eating intentions or knowledge, 41.6% of the patrons reported that the labels influenced their food choices. Patrons also reported being aware of, understanding, and using the labels. The average food sales for the six weeks prior to the intervention were compared to the average food sales during the intervention. Food sales data were compared by location and food category (R/Y/G). There was a significant increase in green food sales and a significant decrease in red food sales (r=-.375, p=.044). However, there were no significant differences between locations. These findings suggest that future research with the traffic light labeling is warranted. / text

The current investigation was designed as an evaluation of a worksite health promotion program with the goal of examining its effectiveness in terms of physical and attitudinal changes over the course of a 12-month evaluation. Because of the call for counseling psychologists to examine health through an interdisciplinary lens, the study examined variables from a variety of disciplines including health psychology, vocational psychology, occupational health, and positive psychology. Using a pretest-posttest design, employees completed measures of job satisfaction, career optimism, perceived stress, optimism, absenteeism, and Presenteeism (on the job productivity). In addition, health screening information was compared from the onset to the completion of the evaluation to determine if health factors improved at the organizational level over time. Results indicated that employees did not significantly improve in terms of health indicators (e.g., cholesterol levels, weight loss), levels of job satisfaction, career optimism, or perceived stress. In addition, results revealed no significant relationship between initial optimism levels and either health or psychological outcomes. Potential explanations for the lack of significant results is discussed including the economic climate in which the evaluation occurred, as well as cultural and organizational issues that may have contributed to a lack of improvement in wellness.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of smoke-free environment polices throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia at worksites employing fifty or more workers. Specifically, this study assessed policy prevalence, development, implementation, and enforcement. In addition, this study assessed smoke-free environment policy effectiveness. The population for this investigation consisted of telephone surveys of 374 worksites located throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Of these worksites, 340 (91%) completed the telephone survey. The population (n = 340) was spread throughout five health regions, Northern, Northwest, Central, Southwest, and East. Descriptive analysis and One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were applied to investigate differences between these five health regions. An alpha of .05 was selected for this study. Based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) Fifty-percent of the worksites located throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia have some form of smoke-free environment policies; (2) The smoke-free environment policy constructs used in the telephone survey guide were statistically significant in identifying differences between the five health regions; (3) Smoke-free environment policies at the worksite are dependent upon health region; (4) Implementation of smoke-free environment policies is dependent upon health region; (5) Enforcement of smoke-free environment policies is dependent upon health region, and (6) Effectiveness of smoke-free environment policies is dependent upon health region. The following recommendations were suggested: (1) Further studies assessing smoke-free environment policy enforcement should be conducted annually; (2) Studies incorporating a qualitative research methodology regarding smoke-free environment policy prevalence should be conducted; (3) Studies involving common smoke-free environment policies at different states should be investigated, and (4) Additional in-depth surveys should be conducted to evaluate health outcomes associated with the implementation of smoke-free environment policies. / Ph. D.

This study is to explore the staffs of Kaohsiung city government for: (1) The relationships among job stress, quality of work life, humor leadership, and worksite health promotion; (2) The moderating effect of humor leadership toward job stress and quality of work life; (3) The moderating effect of worksite health promotion toward job stress and quality of work life; (4) The differences of sample characters on job stress, quality of work life, humor leadership, and worksite health promotion. The questionnaire survey was conducted in the study. Based on the data from Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics of Kaohsiung city government, the budgeted staffs in 2009 are 10,840 persons who were located into 11 institute¡¦s catagories. According to the staffs numbers, we measured by ratio sampling (8%-10%), and associated with convenient sampling. Total 1005 questionnaires were distributed to the government staffs and 71 public schools staffs, and the valid questionnaires were 800 copies with return rate of 79.6%. This study adopted exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, independent-sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), correlation analysis and multiple regression. The findings are: (1) The government staffs have more stress on outside-giving, and they were mostly satisfied with leadership style of their supervisors; (2) Extrinsic effort and Overcommitment negatively and significantly affect quality of work life; Self-esteem and job promotion positively and significantly affect quality of work life; (3) Extrinsic effort and overcommitment negatively and significantly affect the balance of job/life; Self-esteem and job promotion positively and significantly affect quality of work life; (4) Humor leadership is a moderator toward extrinsic effort, self-esteem, overcommitment and quality of work life; (5) Health life, comfortable environment, friendly worksite are partial moderators toward self-esteem, job promotion, overcommitment and job characteristics; (6) Part of personal characters have significant differences in job stress, quality of work life, humor leadership, and worksite health promotion. This study aims to the relationship between job stress and quality of work life from the staffs of Kaohsiung city government, and could confirm humor leadership and worksite health promotion to be a moderator partially affecting job stress and quality of work life. The results could be the reference to provide Kaohsiung city government and related institutes to work on the strategy for reducing job stress and increasing quality of work life.

No description available.