Effectiveness of a Food Education Program for healthcare workers: a pilot study in a Total Worker Health© approach

Reparata Rosa Di Prinzio ^1,2 Alessia Dosi ^1* Gabriele Arnesano ³ Maria Eugenia Vacca ³ Giuseppe Melcore ³ Mariarita Maimone ³ Maria Rosaria Vinci ¹ Vincenzo Camisa ¹ Annapaola Santoro ¹ Federica De Falco ¹ Federica De Maio ¹ Guendalina Dalmasso ⁴ Eugenio Di Brino ² Valerio Pieri ⁵ Salvatore Zaffina ¹

• ¹ Occupational Medicine Function Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IRCCS), Rome, Italy
• ² Alta Scuola di Economia e Management dei Sistemi Sanitari (ALTEMS) - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
• ³ Postgraduate School of Occupational Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
• ⁴ Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IRCCS), Rome, Lazio, Italy
• ⁵ Department of Business Economics, School of Economics, Roma Tre University, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Introduction: Obesity has been identified as a crucial cause of non-communicable diseases, especially for healthcare workers who often take a brief lunch break with high energy and micro-and macronutrients deficient food. Methods: Our study aims to investigate the clinical and economic effectiveness of the "Food Education Programme" (FEP) among healthcare workers having weight problems. Four questionnaires were administered before and after FEP to explore the risk of psychological injury ("Psychological Injury Risk Indicator"), mental and general health status ("Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire-12" and "Short Form-36 health survey") and eating behaviour ("Eating Attitudes Test"). The Return on Investment (ROI) was calculated on the base of absenteeism reduction in the one-year period after FEP. Results: 51 participants (78.4% females, mean age: 52.04 ± 8.94) were included in the study. They were mainly nurses (56.9%). 54.9% were obese and 43.1% overweight. The success rate was 32.1%; the reduction in BMI was more evident in the overweight participants than the obese subjects. A significant re-duction of waist-to-hip ratio, glycosylated haemoglobin, total and LDL cholesterol, and an in-crease in vitamin D was observed (p value: 0.047, 0.002, <0.001, 0.001 and 0.03). Scores on general health significantly improved (p value <0.001 and 0.011). A mean per capita reduction of 3.70 days was observed in one-year period after the intervention, with a ROI of 6.97. Conclusion: Food Education Programme represents a successful program to improve psychophysical well-being of healthcare workers through healthy nutritional plans, also having a notable positive impact on the organization, including its financial accounts.