THE SHAPE UP CHALLENGE - A COMMUNITY-BASED WORKSITE EXERCISE COMPETITION

Purpose. To assess organizational and employee participation during th ree community-wide worksite exercise competitions In two communities. Design. A one-group posttest-only design was used. Lack of controls, e xercise baseline, and the short-term nature of the interventions were limitations. Setting. The Minnesota Heart Health Program conducted ann ual exercise campaigns between 1982 and 1989 within three intervention communities to reduce behavioral risk for cardiovascular disease. The Shape UP Challenge was a worksite exercise competition designed, in c onjunction with other campaign activities, to increase levels of physi cal activity. Subjects. A total of 119 participating companies in two Minnesota communities, and 17,626 employees within these worksites, co mposed the subjects in this study. Intervention. Eligible worksites we re invited to participate in a month-long competition during which emp loyees recorded minutes spent daily in aerobic activities. Incentives were established to promote intragroup cooperation and intergroup comp etition. Companies competed for awards that were based on average minu tes of exercise per employee versus per participant. Measures. Numbers of companies recruited and participating campaign activities, minutes of of exercise, and costs were recorded on implementation logs. Compa nies completed surveys describing business type, number and sex of emp loyees, existing health promotion programs, and perceived benefits of participation. Results. Of the 365 companies invited to participate, 3 3% participated (range 15% to 50%). Participating companies were more likely than nonparticipating companies to offer other health promotion programs and perceived greater benefits from participation. Women and smaller companies had significantly greater participation rates than men and larger companies. Average employee participation rates ranged from as high as 84% in smaller organizations to as low as 16% as organ ization size increased. Conclusions. Community-based worksite exercise competitions appear to be a viable strategy for promoting employee ex ercise particularly in smaller companies. Group-based contingencies ap plied in natural work units may facilitate employee participation. Fur ther research is needed to assess the relative efficacy of this approa ch, compare alternative incentives, and identify strategies to enhance exercise maintenance after the intervention has ceased.