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Describing workplace interventions aimed to improve health of staff in hospital settings – a systematic review

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journal contribution
posted on 2022-01-01, 00:00 authored by V Worley, Penny FraserPenny Fraser, Steven AllenderSteven Allender, Kristy BoltonKristy Bolton
Abstract
Background
A large proportion of staff working in hospital settings are overweight or obese, have poor dietary habits and low physical activity levels. The workplace is a priority setting for health promotion. This systematic review will describe dietary and physical activity workplace interventions that have aimed to improve the health of staff in hospital settings; and the barriers and enablers of implementing these interventions.

Methods
A systematic search retrieved 551 studies from 2004 to 2020 using the following databases CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE Complete, Academic Search Complete, Global Health, Health Source Nursing/Academic Edition and PsycINFO. Studies were included if they: (1) took place in a hospital setting; (2) employed a physical activity or dietary intervention to improve the well-being of staff; (3) the intervention duration was 12 weeks or over; (4) used a control group. The Integrated quality Criteria for the Review of Multiple Study designs (ICROMS) and National Institute of Health’s National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Quality Assessment Tools for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies tools were used to assess quality of included studies. A narrative review was conducted.

Results
Quality analysis identified six studies of high quality, nine moderate quality, and three low quality. Of these 18 studies, 15 reported at least one positive health outcome. The evidence revealed that multi-component strategies, financial incentives and motivational strategies were the most effective approaches to improve health behaviours of hospital staff.

Conclusion
Hospital-based dietary and physical activity workplace interventions show promise as an effective strategy for improving health behaviours of hospital staff. Methodological limitations highlight the need for more research from high-quality, randomised control trials, to gain further insight into the benefits of workplace interventions in hospital settings.

History

Journal

BMC Health Services Research

Volume

22

Issue

1

Article number

ARTN 459

Pagination

1 - 17

Publisher

BioMed Central

Location

London, Eng.

ISSN

1472-6963

eISSN

1472-6963

Language

English

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal