Exploring the dynamics of a free fruit at work intervention

Amelia A. Lake; Sarah A. Smith; Charlotte E. Bryant; Sevil Alinia; Kirsten Brandt; Chris J. Seal; Inge Tetens

doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3500-4

Exploring the dynamics of a free fruit at work intervention

Amelia A. Lake, Sarah A. Smith, Charlotte E. Bryant, Sevil Alinia, Kirsten Brandt, Chris J. Seal, Inge Tetens

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: The workplace has been identified as an ideal setting for health interventions. However, few UK-based workplace intervention studies have been published. Fewer still focus on the practicalities and implications when running an intervention within the workplace setting.The objective of this paper was to qualitatively determine the perceived behaviour changes of participants in a free fruit at work intervention. Understanding the dynamics of a workplace intervention and establishing any limitations of conducting an intervention in a workplace setting were also explored.Methods: Twenty-three face-to-face interviews were conducted with individuals receiving free fruit at work for 18 weeks (74 % female). The worksite was the offices of a regional local government in the North East of England. Analysis was guided theoretically by Grounded Theory research and the data were subjected to content analysis. The transcripts were read repeatedly and cross-compared to develop a coding framework and derive dominant themes.Results: Topics explored included: the workplace food environment; the effect of the intervention on participants and on other related health behaviours; the effect of the intervention on others; participant's fruit consumption; reasons for not taking part in the intervention; expectations and sustainability post-intervention; and how to make the workplace healthier. Five emergent themes included: the office relationship with food; desk based eating; males and peer support; guilt around consumption of unhealthy foods; and the type of workplace influencing the acceptability of future interventions.Conclusion: Exploring the perceptions of participants offered valued insights into the dynamics of a free fruit workplace intervention. Findings suggest that access and availability are both barriers and facilitators to encouraging healthy eating in the workplace.

Original language	Danish
Article number	839
Journal	BMC Public Health
Volume	16
Number of pages	10
ISSN	1471-2458
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3500-4
Publication status	Published - 19 Aug 2016
Externally published	Yes

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Cite this

@article{4a681ded3ff341be993d8adf78ced51f,

title = "Exploring the dynamics of a free fruit at work intervention",

abstract = "Background: The workplace has been identified as an ideal setting for health interventions. However, few UK-based workplace intervention studies have been published. Fewer still focus on the practicalities and implications when running an intervention within the workplace setting.The objective of this paper was to qualitatively determine the perceived behaviour changes of participants in a free fruit at work intervention. Understanding the dynamics of a workplace intervention and establishing any limitations of conducting an intervention in a workplace setting were also explored.Methods: Twenty-three face-to-face interviews were conducted with individuals receiving free fruit at work for 18 weeks (74 % female). The worksite was the offices of a regional local government in the North East of England. Analysis was guided theoretically by Grounded Theory research and the data were subjected to content analysis. The transcripts were read repeatedly and cross-compared to develop a coding framework and derive dominant themes.Results: Topics explored included: the workplace food environment; the effect of the intervention on participants and on other related health behaviours; the effect of the intervention on others; participant's fruit consumption; reasons for not taking part in the intervention; expectations and sustainability post-intervention; and how to make the workplace healthier. Five emergent themes included: the office relationship with food; desk based eating; males and peer support; guilt around consumption of unhealthy foods; and the type of workplace influencing the acceptability of future interventions.Conclusion: Exploring the perceptions of participants offered valued insights into the dynamics of a free fruit workplace intervention. Findings suggest that access and availability are both barriers and facilitators to encouraging healthy eating in the workplace.",

keywords = "Fruit, Intervention development, Perceived healthy behaviour, Workplace, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, behavior change, content analysis, DNA transcription, eating, England, expectation, fruit, government, grounded theory, guilt, health behavior, human, interview, peer group, perception, workplace",

author = "Lake, {Amelia A.} and Smith, {Sarah A.} and Bryant, {Charlotte E.} and Sevil Alinia and Kirsten Brandt and Seal, {Chris J.} and Inge Tetens",

note = "M1 - 839",

year = "2016",

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journal = "BMC Public Health",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Exploring the dynamics of a free fruit at work intervention

AU - Lake, Amelia A.

AU - Smith, Sarah A.

AU - Bryant, Charlotte E.

AU - Alinia, Sevil

AU - Brandt, Kirsten

AU - Seal, Chris J.

AU - Tetens, Inge

N1 - M1 - 839

PY - 2016/8/19

Y1 - 2016/8/19

N2 - Background: The workplace has been identified as an ideal setting for health interventions. However, few UK-based workplace intervention studies have been published. Fewer still focus on the practicalities and implications when running an intervention within the workplace setting.The objective of this paper was to qualitatively determine the perceived behaviour changes of participants in a free fruit at work intervention. Understanding the dynamics of a workplace intervention and establishing any limitations of conducting an intervention in a workplace setting were also explored.Methods: Twenty-three face-to-face interviews were conducted with individuals receiving free fruit at work for 18 weeks (74 % female). The worksite was the offices of a regional local government in the North East of England. Analysis was guided theoretically by Grounded Theory research and the data were subjected to content analysis. The transcripts were read repeatedly and cross-compared to develop a coding framework and derive dominant themes.Results: Topics explored included: the workplace food environment; the effect of the intervention on participants and on other related health behaviours; the effect of the intervention on others; participant's fruit consumption; reasons for not taking part in the intervention; expectations and sustainability post-intervention; and how to make the workplace healthier. Five emergent themes included: the office relationship with food; desk based eating; males and peer support; guilt around consumption of unhealthy foods; and the type of workplace influencing the acceptability of future interventions.Conclusion: Exploring the perceptions of participants offered valued insights into the dynamics of a free fruit workplace intervention. Findings suggest that access and availability are both barriers and facilitators to encouraging healthy eating in the workplace.

AB - Background: The workplace has been identified as an ideal setting for health interventions. However, few UK-based workplace intervention studies have been published. Fewer still focus on the practicalities and implications when running an intervention within the workplace setting.The objective of this paper was to qualitatively determine the perceived behaviour changes of participants in a free fruit at work intervention. Understanding the dynamics of a workplace intervention and establishing any limitations of conducting an intervention in a workplace setting were also explored.Methods: Twenty-three face-to-face interviews were conducted with individuals receiving free fruit at work for 18 weeks (74 % female). The worksite was the offices of a regional local government in the North East of England. Analysis was guided theoretically by Grounded Theory research and the data were subjected to content analysis. The transcripts were read repeatedly and cross-compared to develop a coding framework and derive dominant themes.Results: Topics explored included: the workplace food environment; the effect of the intervention on participants and on other related health behaviours; the effect of the intervention on others; participant's fruit consumption; reasons for not taking part in the intervention; expectations and sustainability post-intervention; and how to make the workplace healthier. Five emergent themes included: the office relationship with food; desk based eating; males and peer support; guilt around consumption of unhealthy foods; and the type of workplace influencing the acceptability of future interventions.Conclusion: Exploring the perceptions of participants offered valued insights into the dynamics of a free fruit workplace intervention. Findings suggest that access and availability are both barriers and facilitators to encouraging healthy eating in the workplace.

KW - Fruit

KW - Intervention development

KW - Perceived healthy behaviour

KW - Workplace

KW - Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

KW - behavior change

KW - content analysis

KW - DNA transcription

KW - eating

KW - England

KW - expectation

KW - fruit

KW - government

KW - grounded theory

KW - guilt

KW - health behavior

KW - human

KW - interview

KW - peer group

KW - perception

KW - workplace

U2 - 10.1186/s12889-016-3500-4

DO - 10.1186/s12889-016-3500-4

M3 - Tidsskriftartikel

C2 - 27542384

SN - 1471-2458

VL - 16

JO - BMC Public Health

JF - BMC Public Health

M1 - 839

ER -