FUEL Your Life: A Translation of the Diabetes Prevention Program to Worksites

Abstract

Purpose. To evaluate the effectiveness of FUEL Your Life, a translation of the Diabetes Prevention Program for worksites. Design. A randomized control group design was conducted in five worksites of a large transportation company. Measures were collected pretest, posttest (6 months), and follow-up (12 months). Setting. Railroad maintenance facilities of Union Pacific Railroad. Subjects. Participants consisted of 362 workers (227 treatment, 135 control). Intervention. FUEL Your Life was translated from the Diabetes Prevention Program to better fit within the context of the worksite. The primary difference was the use of peer health coaches to provide social support and reinforcement and an occupational nurse to provide lesson content (six sessions of 10 minutes) to participants instead of the lifestyle coaches employed by the Diabetes Prevention Program, resulting in a less structured meeting schedule. Measures. The primary outcomes were weight and body mass index (BMI), with secondary outcomes including eating behaviors, physical activity, and social support. Analysis. Latent growth modeling was used to measure changes in the outcomes over time. Results. Participants in the intervention group maintained weight/BMI (–.1 pounds/–.1 BMI), whereas the control participants gained weight/BMI (+2.6 pounds/+.3 BMI), resulting in a statistically significant difference between groups. Fifty-five percent of intervention participants lost some weight, whereas only 35% of the control group lost weight. Conclusions. FUEL Your Life, a low intensity intervention, was not effective for promoting weight loss, but was effective for helping workers maintain weight over a 12-month period.