Physical Activity Surveillance in the United States for Work and Commuting: Understanding the Impact on Population Health and Well-being.

OBJECTIVE: To summarize and describe the current US surveillance systems that assess physical activity (PA) for work and commuting. METHODS: An expert group conducted an environmental scan, generating a list (n = 18) which was ultimately reduced to 12, based on the inclusion of PA and/or sedentary behavior data. RESULTS: The 12 surveys or surveillance systems summarized provide nationally representative data on occupational-level PA or individual-level PA at work, data on active commuting, some are scorecards that summarize workplace health best practices and allow benchmarking, and one is a comprehensive nationally representative survey of employers assessing programs and practices in different worksites. CONCLUSIONS: The various surveillance systems and surveys/scorecards are disparate and need to be better analyzed and summarized to understand the impact of occupational-level PA and commuting on population health and well-being, life expectancy, and workforce productivity.

Sociodemographic and Biometric Factors Associated With Eating Behaviors Among African American Women Aged 18-74.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a growing problem in the United States and is disproportionately increasing among African Americans. The objective of this study is to examine the sociodemographic and biometric factors associated with eating behaviors among African American women. METHODS: We analyzed data from the 2009-2010 dietary screener and weight history questionnaire from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Multivariable analyses were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) to determine the association between six specific eating behaviors and different sociodemographic and biometric factors. Analyses were conducted using SAS 9.4. RESULTS: The analyses show that being middle aged (45-64) decreased the likelihood of consuming soft drinks (AOR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.27-0.86); consuming red meat (AOR: 0.45; 95% CI: 0.25-0.82); and consuming processed meat (AOR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.31-0.97). In addition, high school grads were over 3 times as likely to consume high amounts of soft drinks (AOR: 3.04; 95% CI: 1.33-6.94) and 65% less likely to consume high amounts of leafy/lettuce salads than college grads (AOR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.15-0.82). Finally, single/widowed/divorced African American women were 13% less likely to eat high amounts of leafy green salads than married African American women (AOR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.70-0.97). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that some sociodemographic factors have an association with certain eating behaviors. Further exploration of sociodemographic and biometric factors, with the inclusion of culture and its association with eating behaviors will help to expand the literature.

Implementing organizational physical activity and healthy eating strategies on paid time: process evaluation of the UCLA WORKING pilot study.

Integrating organizationally targeted wellness strategies into the routine conduct of business has shown promise in engaging captive audiences at highest risk of obesity and obesity-related health consequences. This paper presents a process evaluation of the implementation of the University of California, Los Angeles, Working Out Regularly Keeps Individuals Nurtured and Going (WORKING) pilot study. WORKING focuses on integrating physical activity and nutrition practices into workplace routine during non-discretionary paid work time. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the quality of implementation and to understand factors that facilitated or hindered organizations' full uptake of the intervention. Fifteen worksites were randomly assigned to an intervention condition. Qualitative data were gathered through routine site visits and informant interviews conducted throughout each worksite's intervention period. Worksites were classified into one of four implementation success categories based on their level of adoption and maintenance of core intervention strategies. Six key factors emerged that were related to implementation success: site layout and social climate, wellness infrastructure, number and influence of Program Champions, leadership involvement, site innovation and creativity. This pilot study has informed the conduct of WORKING II; a cluster randomized controlled trial aimed at enrolling 60-70 worksites in Los Angeles County.