Worksite Social Connections and Food Choice: Identifying Opportunities for Obesity Prevention

工作场所社交联系和食物选择：寻找预防肥胖的机会

基本信息

批准号：
9112118
负责人：
Douglas Levy
金额：
$ 27.02万
依托单位：
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2016-04-19 至 2018-03-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9112118
关键词：
Accounting Affect Behavior Characteristics Charge Control Groups Data Data Collection Diet Eating Education Employee Environment Ethnic Origin Feedback Food Food Labeling Food Services General Hospitals Guidelines Health Health Food Hospitals Hour Human Resources Individual Intervention Investigation Label Laboratories Latino Light Link Massachusetts Morbidity - disease rate Obesity Obesity associated disease Occupations Participant Physical environment Population Positioning Attribute Prevention strategy Race Randomized Randomized Controlled Trials Research Series Site Social Environment Social Network System Testing Transference United States Work Workplace court demographics design financial incentive food environment group intervention improved intervention effect mortality novel obesity prevention obesity risk peer public health relevance randomized trial response social social norm trafficking

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity continues to be among the leading preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States and much of the rise in obesity is attributable to food choice. It is well-established that food choices (quality, quantity are affected by social and physical environments. Recent research has suggested that obesity might be "transmitted" through social networks. Strategies to reduce obesity risk could be designed to take advantage of the relationship between social connections and obesity, but further investigation of the interactions between social and physical environments and food choice is needed to help identify possible mechanisms that could be leveraged to improve health. The workplace is an ideal setting to study the relationship between social connections and food choice. Employed individuals spend roughly half their waking hours in the workplace and nearly everyone eats during the workday. Workplace eating establishments (e.g. cafeterias) provide a unique opportunity to study obesity prevention strategies that capitalize on the interactions of established social connections and the food purchasing environment. Since 2010, we have undertaken a series of interventions within the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) food services system and studied their impact on purchases of healthy food items. All food items sold at MGH have been assigned traffic light labels informed by USDA dietary guidelines with clearly communicated messaging to indicate the healthfulness of food choices. We have found that providing employees with social norms feedback (peer comparisons) increases healthy food choices. In preliminary analyses, we have also identified associations in healthy/unhealthy food purchasing behaviors among employees whose social connections have been inferred from cafeteria and administrative data. In the current proposal, we use the MGH cafeteria system to test whether the relationship between social connectedness and food choice varies by employee characteristics and specific food environments (Aim 1). Using data from a prior randomized trial testing the influence of social norms feedback on healthy food choices, we will determine whether the positive effects of the intervention on employees' food choices are amplified by their social connections and transmitted through social connections to their co-workers (Aim 2). Our established, objective data collection system in this real-world food choice "laboratory" allows us to conduct novel investigations of worksite social networks and the interaction of these factors with the food environment. Results from this research will position us to develop and test new interventions that can leverage social connectedness and the food environment to improve food choices and reduce obesity risk.

描述（由申请人提供）：肥胖仍然是美国发病和死亡的主要可预防原因之一，肥胖的增加很大程度上归因于食物的选择众所周知，食物的选择（质量、数量）。最近的研究表明，肥胖可能是通过社交网络“传播”的，可以利用社会联系与肥胖之间的关系来设计降低肥胖风险的策略，但还需要进一步研究社会之间的相互作用。需要了解物理环境和食物选择，以帮助确定可用于改善健康的可能机制。工作场所是研究社会关系与食物选择之间关系的理想环境。几乎每个人都会在工作日吃饭。自 2010 年以来，我们在工作场所就餐场所（例如自助餐厅）采取了一系列干预措施，利用已建立的社会关系和食品购买环境来研究肥胖预防策略。马萨诸塞州总医院 (MGH) 食品服务系统，并研究了其对购买健康食品的影响。 MGH 销售的所有食品均贴有符合美国农业部饮食指南的红绿灯标签，并明确传达信息以表明食品选择的健康性。我们发现，为员工提供社会规范反馈（同行比较）可以增加健康食品的选择。在初步分析中，我们还发现了从自助餐厅和管理数据推断出的员工的健康/不健康食品购买行为之间的关联。目前的提案，我们使用 MGH 自助餐厅系统来测试社会联系与食物选择之间的关系是否因员工特征和特定食物环境而异（目标 1）。我们将使用之前测试社会规范反馈对健康食物选择影响的随机试验数据。确定干预措施对员工食物选择的积极影响是否会通过他们的社会关系放大，并通过社会关系传递给他们的同事（目标 2）。我们在这个现实世界的食物选择“实验室”中建立了客观的数据收集系统。 “让我们能够进行新颖的调查这项研究的结果将为我们定位工作场所社交网络以及这些因素与食品环境的相互作用。开发和测试新的干预措施，可以利用社会联系和食物环境来改善食物选择并降低肥胖风险。