Reducing Obesity at the Workplace: A Randomized Trial

The PACE [Promoting Activity and Changes in Eating] Project

P.I. Shirley Beresford, PhD

The PACE Project is a group-randomized controlled intervention study. The goal of the study is to develop and evaluate an intervention that will maintain or decrease body mass index at the worksite level. The project will develop and test a comprehensive intervention that will provide simple strategies related to moderating dietary intake and increasing energy expenditure that individuals can follow to achieve a balance. The intervention is designed to change structural and environmental cues to focus on promoting information, social support and opportunities for managing energy intake and increasing physical activity, while simultaneously providing behavioral change strategies to individual employees through tip sheets and a self-help manual. Participating companies are in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Thirty-four companies are participating in the current research project. These companies are a mixture of manufacturing, financial, legal, non-profit, service and transportation industries.

Of the 34 companies, 17 have been randomly selected for the immediate PACE Project intervention group and 17 have been assigned to the comparison group, or delayed PACE Project intervention. The PACE companies establish an Employee Advisory Board [EAB] that makes all the decisions as to how the intervention initiatives will be implemented at their company. The intervention itself consists of a protocol that specifies the minimum activities required to occur in each worksite. The intervention is conducted over a course of 18 months. The intervention goals are to: (1) influence the worksite environment, including policies and procedures, by increasing worksite access to healthy foods and physical activity opportunities; and (2) promote individual behavior change, through increasing awareness of energy balance, building physical activity skills that increase levels of energy expenditure through the combination of increased daily physical activity and regular, structured exercise, and building dietary choice skills that will promote decreased calorie intake. Environmental and individual-level strategies target gradual changes in the social norms at the worksites, such that behavior change is maintained long-term.

The evaluation compares the effectiveness of the intervention in reduce or maintain body mass index in a randomized trial of worksites from baseline and two-year follow-up, using serial cross-sectional surveys.

Reference:

Beresford SAA, Locke E, Bishop S, West B, McGregor B, Bruemmer B, Duncan G, Thompson B. Worksite Study Promoting Activity and Changes in Eating (PACE): Design and Baseline Results, Obesity, 4S-15S, Nov 2007.

(Contact: Sonia Bishop)