Make Your Move Experience: A Worksite Wellness Pilot in South Texas

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the implementation of Make Your Move Experience (MYME) between 2015 and 2017. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Make Your Move Experience is a culturally sensitive worksite wellness program in South Texas designed to encourage sedentary workers to engage in physical activity. Participants: In total, 681 individuals from 19 different organizations. Intervention: UTHealth School of Public Health in Brownsville staff recruited individuals within local organizations to join MYME. At the end of the 3 months, organizations in which employees met MYME goals earned an incentive—bike rack or hydration station—selected to be permanent features of the local environment and facilitate physical activity. Measures: Participant self-reported gender, physical activity level prior to joining MYME (beginner or experienced), and weekly miles of biking, walking, or running completed. Analysis: Mean number of miles biked, walked, and ran each month were compared between (1) beginners and experienced, (2) men and women, and (3) in fall 2016 and spring 2017 using t tests. Results: Beginners initiated physical activity by walking. Men biked more miles than women did ( P < .05 all 3 years). Bike riders cycled fewer miles (20.2 miles vs 44.9 miles; P = .03) and walkers covered fewer miles (195.4 miles vs 266.7 miles; P = .04) in fall 2016 compared to spring 2017. Conclusions: Participation in MYME, a culturally appropriate intervention delivered at the worksite, facilitated an increase in physical activity levels among sedentary individuals.

Association between employer-based health promotion programs and adherence to breast cancer screening in Texas

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Texas to assess the effect of employer-based health programs on breast cancer screening adherence among employed women. Since employer-based health promotion interventions were found effective in reducing health risks in different areas such as obesity, nutrition, mental health, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal disorders, we hypothesized that screen-eligible women with access to employer-based health programs would be more adherent to screening mammograms than screen eligible women who do not have access to employer-based health program ( Proper and van Oostrom, 2019 , Butler et al, 2015 , Cheon et al, 2020 , Wilkinson et al, 2020 ). However, the study results did not indicate a significant association between access to employer-based health promotion programs and screening mammogram adherence, after adjusting for income, race, residency, place of birth, marital status, occupational status, access to healthcare coverage, health and behavioral risks, and cancer beliefs.…”

Unique Barriers to Workplace Health Promotion Programs by Wage Category: A Qualitative Assessment of Secondary Data

“…Workplace health promotion (WHP) program outcomes have been associated with healthy behavior change, including smoking cessation 1 and reduction of sedentary behaviors. 2,3 They have also been associated with favorable organizational returns on investment and improved employee productivity. [4][5][6] While WHP programs are widely used by employers to improve workers' health outcomes, participation rates often fail to engage a significant proportion of employees who would most benefit from them.…”