Several public health agencies have recommended that Americans consume five servings of fruits and vegetables daily to reduce their risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. Currently, consumption is low, especially in lower SES and minority populations. The worksite presents unique advantages for an intervention to increase consumption among these groups; however, most existing worksite wellness programs overlook the blue-collar jobs typically held by lower SES and minority populations. The proposed project, a two-part worksite wellness program, aims to (1) increase the awareness and understanding of the health benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables, (2) increase consumption of fruits and vegetables by .50 servings per day, (3) compare the impact of a peer health educator program designed to influence health attitudes and behavior through interpersonal networks to a traditional worksite wellness program using impersonal communication channels, and (4) evaluate the persistence of this impact in a population of overlooked workers in 10 large public sector employers in the State of Arizona, based on the Diffusion of Innovations and Social Comparison Theories. In a matched-pair design, all worksites will initially receive a 5 A Day Worksite Wellness Program, a traditional worksite health promotion program, to equalize worksites on their nutrition education efforts and on their exposure to the concurrent national 5 A Day campaign. After nine months, a Health Peers Program will be randomized to one-half of each of the matched pairs of worksites, which will run along with the 5 A Day Worksite Wellness Program for another nine months. It will identify, train, and pay 40 workers from the target job classifications (who are well-integrated into social networks and motivated to help fellow employees) to act as change agents for coworkers in their interpersonal social networks. Four evaluations are planned: (1) at baseline prior to the intervention, (2) after the first nine months of the 5 A Day Wellness Program alone, (3) at the end of the 18-month intervention, and (4) six months after the end of the intervention to measure persistence of impact.
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| Larkey, L K; Alatorre, C; Buller, D B et al. (1999) Communication strategies for dietary change in a worksite peer educator intervention. Health Educ Res 14:777-90 |
