title: Which worksite supports for healthy weight do employees use?
abstract: This paper explores factors associated with employee use of available supports for improving nutrition and activity behaviors. A cross-sectional telephone-survey assessed presence and use of available program, facility, and policy supports. Logistic regression was used to explore associations between job characteristics (e.g., supervising others) and use of available supports, adjusting for demographic characteristics. After adjustment, most supports were associated with at least one job-related factor. Participants supervising others were more likely to utilize eight supports including personal services for fitness, indoor exercise and shower facilities, and flextime for physical activity. The programs and facilities associated with the most factors were health fairs (e.g., increased likelihood with increased hours worked/week) and indoor exercise and shower facilities (e.g., increased likelihood with increased flexibility at work), respectively. Policies were associated with fewer factors. Since use of many programs and facilities differed based on job-related factors, employers might target supports based on job-related factors.
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center in St. Louis, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
authors.forename: Rachel G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Tabak
authors.affiliation: Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: J Aaron
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hipp
authors.affiliation: Division of Public Health Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Marx
authors.affiliation: Division of Public Health Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center in St. Louis, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America; Division of Public Health Sciences and Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ross C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Brownson
keywords: Nutrition; Obesity prevention; Physical activity; Workplace environment and policies; Workplace health promotion