Abstract
Obesity is a multifactorial, chronic condition which impacts over 65% of healthcare workers. In order to effectively address this issue, it requires incorporation of lifestyle interventions such as diet, physical activity, and stress reduction. This review examines the impact of lifestyle interventions on obesity measures in healthcare workers. A comprehensive literature search was conducted among multiple databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, CINAHL, and Medline using the key words “weight loss interventions”, “ healthcare workers,” and “lifestyle interventions”. Studies that were included had weight-loss based intervention studies that targeted healthcare workers published within the last 15 years. Researchers identified (15) articles that met the inclusion criteria, and all were included in the final analysis. Data were analyzed descriptively to see patterns and trends in the impact of work-based lifestyle programs on weight loss in obese healthcare workers. The review found that lifestyle interventions had a significant impact on improving obesity measures of weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and body fat percentages in majority of the studies. In addition, cardiovascular factors of blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood glucose showed marked improvement. These findings suggest that lifestyle interventions are a key part of addressing obesity in healthcare workers and employing effective changes. Future research is needed to further optimize interventions, address long term weight maintenance and incorporate additional interventions such as stress reduction and sleep quality for sustainable outcomes.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
The Physiology, Kinesiology and Psychology of Wellness in its Social Context
KEYWORDS
Lifestyle, Obesity, Healthcare workers, Wellness
