Self-Regulation of Saturated Fat Intake in Blue-Collar Employees: A Randomized Intervention Study

Blue-collar employees, compared to white-collar workers, are more vulnerable to developing chronic illness and are less likely to make healthy food choices. Saturated fat intake, an indicator of an unhealthy diet, is a major contributor to disease morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. Interventions directed at increasing self-regulatory skills for health behaviors could possibly serve to bolster one\u27s sense of personal control in psychological and socio-economic realms. The current study was a 2 x 3 between-subjects repeated-measures randomized experimental design that examined the efficacy of a Self-regulation skill + Education intervention against an Education Only condition over a 6-week period, with assessments at baseline, week 4 (end of intervention), and week 6 (post-intervention). Outcome variables included saturated fat intake, self-efficacy for reducing saturated fat intake, and self-regulation for controlled eating. Blue-collar employees (N=54) at UWM were randomized to either condition. Participants in both groups had an equal number of individual in-person meetings. Both groups received the saturated fats information booklet, which discussed what saturated fat is, identified items high in saturated fats, and provided information on how to reduce this element in one\u27s diet. Self-regulation skill + Education participants also took part in a 4-week self-regulation skills training that involved selecting saturated fat reduction goals, self-monitoring, identifying barriers and strategies, self-administering rewards, evaluating progress and revising goals. Study procedures followed a carefully designed manual to ensure standardized intervention delivery; all participants were to receive equivalent educational informational with the intervention group receiving additional self-regulatory skills training. Mixed ANOVA analyses showed that significant differences emerged between groups. Specifically, the Self-regulation skill + Education group reported significantly lower saturated fat intake and greater self-regulation at the end of the intervention and post-intervention. The intervention group also reported significantly higher self-efficacy for saturated fat intake post-intervention. The present study has extended self-regulation research to saturated fat intake behavior within a low socio-economic status work group. The features of the Self-Regulation + Education intervention point to simple yet meaningful efforts for health behavior change and hold empirical and practical value. Research findings highlight that self-regulation training is an essential component of effective health behavior change and should be an integral component of multi-level illness prevention and health promotion efforts

From Research-to-Practice: An Adaptation and Dissemination of the COMPASS Program for Home Care Workers

The COMmunity of Practice And Safety Support (COMPASS) program was developed to prevent injuries and advance the health and well-being of home care workers. The program integrates elements of peer-led social support groups with scripted team-based programs to help workers learn together, solve problems, set goals, make changes, and enrich their supportive professional network. After a successful pilot study and randomized controlled trial, COMPASS was adapted for the Oregon Home Care Commission’s training system for statewide dissemination. The adapted program included fewer total meetings (7 versus 13), an accelerated meeting schedule (every two weeks versus monthly), and a range of other adjustments. The revised approach was piloted with five groups of workers (total n = 42) and evaluated with pre- and post-program outcome measures. After further adjustments and planning, the statewide rollout is now in progress. In the adaptation pilot several psychosocial, safety, and health outcomes changed by a similar magnitude relative to the prior randomized controlled trial. Preliminary training evaluation data (n = 265) show high mean ratings indicating that workers like the program, find the content useful, and intend to make changes after meetings. Facilitating factors and lessons learned from the project may inform future similar efforts to translate research into practice

Cleaning Beaches through Automation

Beaches worldwide are littered with small, dangerous, and hazardous plastics and metal waste. According to the National History Museum, there are four billion pieces of micro and nano plastic in just the top five centimeters of sand. The 2021 International Coastal Cleanup aimed to help decrease waste and manually collect around three million waste items over the past year. While it is clear that volunteers are eager to manually pick up each piece of waste, this method is extremely ineffective and slow. Our solution aims to automate and electronically reduce the amount of plastic waste on beaches through the usage of robots. By utilizing our innovative approach, individuals can contribute to their environment by renting and fundraising for our robot to promote community involvement and address environmental issues. Our robot will not come in one form but be divided into variations that accommodate different purposes. One bot can simultaneously filter the sand for microplastics and act as a beach buddy for community relationships. Another form of the bot can be a moving recycling can for the beach. Our target audience is initially affluent beach communities and associations in the US to gain a user base, then expanding to third-world countries

A Comparison of Safety, Health, and Well-Being Risk Factors Across Five Occupational Samples

Objective: The aim of this study was to present safety, health and well-being profiles of workers within five occupations: call center work (N = 139), corrections (N = 85), construction (N = 348), homecare (N = 149), and parks and recreation (N = 178). Methods: Baseline data from the Data Repository of Oregon’s Healthy Workforce Center were used. Measures were compared with clinical healthcare guidelines and national norms. Results: The prevalence of health and safety risks for adults was as follows: overweight (83.2%), high blood pressure (16.4%), injury causing lost work (9.9%), and reported pain (47.0%). Young workers were least likely to report adequate sleep (46.6%). Construction workers reported the highest rate of smoking (20.7%). All of the adult workers reported significantly lower general health than the general population. Conclusion: The number of workers experiencing poor safety, health and well-being outcomes suggest the need for improved working conditions