Volume 26, Issue 4: August, 1999

Abstract

IMPACT OF THE WORKING WELL TRIAL ON THE WORK-SITE SMOKING AND NUTRITION ENVIRONMENT

Lois Biener, PhD, Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH, Dale McLerran, MS, Glorian Sorensen, PhD, MPH, Beti Thompson, PhD, Karen Basen-Engquist, PhD, MPH, Laura Linnan, MS Ed, CHES, and Jill Varnes, EdD, CHES

Address reprint requests to:
Lois Biener, PhD, Center for Survey Research, University of Massachusetts, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125; phone: (617) 287-7200; fax: (617) 287-7210; e-mail: lois.biener@umb.edu

This article reports the effect of a work-site cancer control intervention on aspects of the physical and social environment related to dietary and smoking behaviors of employees. Data are from 111 intervention and control work sites that participated in the Working Well Trial. Employee surveys and interviews with key organizational informants assessed environmental and normative changes relevant to nutrition and tobacco use. Results indicated significant effects of the intervention on all nutrition outcomes: access to healthy food, nutritional information at work, and social norms regarding dietary choice. Significant benefits were not found for smoking norms or smoking policies. However, changes occurred in both the control and intervention sites on these variables. This first large analysis of environmental and normative effects of a work-site intervention is consistent with the employee behavior change findings for the trial and serves as a model for future analyses of multilevel work-site health promotion programs.