Optimizing the Health of Pre-Diabetic Healthcare Workers

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will implement and evaluate a new approach to engage employees, their employer and providers to improve employee health and productivity with the support of information technology. Specifically, our research team proposes to: 1. identify the population of employees at risk for developing diabetes (pre-diabetes) through the use of a voluntary health risk appraisal survey and fasting blood sugar; 2. offer this sub-group of employees individually oriented health promotion and disease prevention programs 3. subsequently implement a wide variety of "ecological" interventions aimed at creating a social environment at the workplace that optimizes employer support for individual behavioral change; 4. employ novel information technologies to create a more patient-centered and effective, shared care plan; 5. measure an array of outcomes at each phase of the study that includes measures of health behaviors and biometric risk factors and economic variables such as costs of health care, disability, workers' compensation, absenteeism and other indicators of impaired human performance.