Effectiveness of a worksite telephone-based weight management program

Abstract

Purpose: Examine the long-term impact of a telephone-based weight management program among participants recruited from worksite settings.

Design: Pre/post quasi-experimental design comparing weight loss and related behaviors between program completers and noncompleters.

Setting: Ten large private-sector and public-sector employers.

Subjects: Overweight or obese participants (n = 1298) enrolled in a telephone-based weight management program.

Intervention: Individually tailored telephone-based weight management coaching program that included up to five calls over a median of 250 days.

Measures: Weight, body mass index, and lifestyle behaviors assessed via health risk assessment at baseline and 1-year follow-up.

Analysis: Chi-square and one-way analysis of variance procedures were used to assess between-group differences in weight and associated behaviors, with criterion for significance set at p < .05.

Results: Among weight management program participants, 48% of program completers and 47% of noncompleters lost weight, but program completers averaged 2.6 times more weight loss than noncompleters. Improvements in physical activity, eating habits, and overall health status were reported for completers.

Conclusion: The weight loss attained among participants who lost weight, along with the improvements in physical activity and nutrition practices, suggests that a telephone-based weight management program of modest intensity can have a positive impact on the health of obese or overweight worksite participants.