Program Evaluation Summary

Time 1 results include: 

• When comparing intervention to control sites, initial results show that the interventions produced favorable changes in weight, BMI, blood pressure, tobacco use and alcohol use.
• At intense sites, decreases in percent prevalence of persons at high risk for poor nutrition (-3.7%), tobacco use (-1.3%), and poor physical activity (-1.4%) from Time 1 to Time 2 was significant.
• Only moderate sites showed a significant decrease in percent prevalence for poor nutrition (-3.9%).
• Comparing changes in biometric risk factors of the moderate versus control sites showed a significant difference in prevalence of high blood pressure (-4.0%) and high cholesterol (-6.7%).
• Moderate sites demonstrate significant decreases in percent prevalence of people with high blood pressure by 3.5% and high blood glucose by 1.5%.
• Intense sites demonstrate a significant decrease in percent of unproductive time spent at work, by 0.2% for a savings of $161.70 per participant.
• Moderate sites had a significant decrease in absenteeism (-1.7 days, savings $522.93 per participant) and percent of unproductive time spent at work (-0.3%, savings $250.00 per participant).
• Comparing differences in the changes of moderate versus control sites showed only a significant difference in absenteeism (-2.1 days, savings $629.09 per participant).
• Intense and moderate sites showed improvement from Time 1 to Time 2 in the perception of cultural support at Dow to promote health (0.1 point increase).
• Control sites participants felt the cultural support for health at Dow significantly decreased from Time 1 to Time 2 (0.1 point).
• Intense and moderate sites show improvement in the perception of cultural support for adopting and encouraging healthy lifestyles and environmental support for healthy eating (e.g., healthy vending, cafeteria and catering options) significantly improved.
• Increased employee awareness of communications encouraging healthy eating and physical activity.
• Increased site leadership support for health promotion.

Evaluation Methods

To evaluate the impact of environmental interventions on health risks, a quasi-experimental, pre/post design was used with three data points: baseline, year 1 and year 2.  Intervention sites were matched, and then randomly assigned to moderate or high intensity.  The study included 12 sites:  3 control and 9 intervention (4 moderate, 5 intense).  Additionally, other Dow sites in the US (N=~7,500) provided benchmark/comparison data (administrative and health risk).  Behavioral risk data was measured with HRA responses and biometric measurements.  Outcome measures included height/weight (body mass index), blood pressure, cholesterol (total/HDL), blood glucose, diet/nutrition, exercise/physical activity, smoking, stress, alcohol, health care utilization and costs (self report and insurance claims data), absenteeism (self report and administrative data), and presenteeism (Work Limitations Questionnaire).

Analysis and evaluation requires coordination with Dow and their research partners: National Business Group on Health, Emory University, Thomson Reuters, and University of Georgia.  The evaluation team is a well-qualified group with a variety of advanced degrees and experience in research methodology and data analysis.  Research protocol is reviewed and approved by Institutional Review Boards at Dow and Emory University.  Additional review is provided by a Data Safety Monitoring Board.