Real-World Outcomes of a Digital Behavioral Coaching Intervention to Improve Employee Health Status: Retrospective Observational Study (Preprint)

Abstract

Chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) account for major disability and premature mortality worldwide, with low- and middle-income countries being disproportionately burdened. Given the negative impact of NCDs on employee performance and work productivity, there is a rising need for stakeholders to identify effective workplace solutions that can improve employee health outcomes. As the workplace becomes more dispersed post pandemic, digital behavioral coaching offers a scalable, personalized, and cost-effective method of managing chronic disease risk factors among employees.

This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the impact of a digital behavioral coaching program on year-to-year changes in employee health status in a cohort of Indonesian employees.

This retrospective real-world exploratory analysis of secondary health data followed 774 employees of an Indonesian company who completed company-sponsored health screenings between 2021 and 2022 and were given access to Naluri (Naluri Hidup Sdn Bhd), a holistic digital therapeutics platform offering digital behavioral health coaching and self-help tools. Participants were retrospectively classified as those who received active coaching (n=177), passive coaching (n=108), and no coaching (n=489). Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the year-to-year changes in health outcomes across the 3 employee groups, with post hoc analyses evaluating within-group differences between the 2 time points and between-group differences at follow-up.

Significant time×group interaction effects were detected for body weight, BMI, hemoglobin A_1c, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Post hoc pairwise comparisons revealed significant improvements in hemoglobin A_1c (mean difference [M_diff]=–0.14, <i>P</i>=.008), high-density lipoprotein (M_diff=+2.14, <i>P</i>&lt;.001), and total cholesterol (M_diff=–11.45, <i>P</i>&lt;.001) for employees in the Active Coaching group between 2021 and 2022, with the other 2 groups reporting deteriorations in multiple health outcomes throughout the 2 time points. At follow-up, those who received active coaching between 2021 and 2022 reported significantly lower body weight (<i>P</i>&lt;.001), BMI (<i>P</i>=.001), low-density lipoprotein (<i>P</i>=.045), and total cholesterol (<i>P</i>&lt;.001) than the No Coaching group.

This study demonstrates real-world outcomes and implications supporting the use of workplace digital behavioral coaching in improving employee health status. Given the rising burden of NCDs in the Southeast Asian region, our findings underscore the role that workplace digital health interventions can play in preventing and managing chronic disease risk factors.