Reducing Obesity among Employees of a Manufacturing Plant

Abstract

Obesity affects individuals physically and emotionally, contributing to direct and indirect employer costs. Targeted obesity interventions through the Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Core Curriculum offered at the worksite could promote healthy lifestyle decisions resulting in weight improvement among overweight and obese employees. A pretest-posttest cohort design was used to evaluate changes in weight and body mass index among 35 Diabetes Prevention Program participants; they achieved statistically significant changes in body weight ( p < .001) and body mass index ( p < .001). As a process measure, Diabetes Prevention Program session attendance moderately correlated with weight loss (r = .51; p = .002). Many health care professionals, including occupational health nurses, can implement evidence-based worksite obesity interventions to support employee weight loss.