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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To examine the impact of financial incentives, communications strategy, and worksite culture on health risk assessment (HRA) participation rates. Design. A cross-sectional study design was used to examine factors that influence employee participation, including incentive value, incentive design, communications strategy, and worksite culture. Setting. Large private-sector and public-sector employers. Participants. Thirty-six employers (n = 559,988 employees) that provided financial incentives to promote employee HRA participation. Intervention. Organizations implemented the HRA as part of a more comprehensive worksite health promotion strategy that included follow-up interventions and a variety of other components. The primary outcome of interest was employee HRA participation. Measures. Information on program design and structure, as well as on HRA eligibility and participation, was collected for each organization via standard client report and semi-structured interviews with account managers. General linear regression models were used to examine the extent to which factors influence HRA participation independently and when controlled for other factors. Results. Incentive value (r² = .433; p < .000), benefits-integrated incentive design (r² = .184; p = .009), culture (r² = .113; p = .045), and communications strategy (r² = .300; p = .001) had positive bivariate associations with HRA participation rates. When all factors were included in the model, incentive value (p = .001) and communications strategy (p = .023) were significantly associated with HRA participation. Variance accounted for by all factors combined was R² = .584. Conclusion. This study suggests that incentive value, incentive type, supportive worksite culture, and comprehensive communications strategy may all play a role in increasing HRA participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]