Barriers and Facilitators of Implementing a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention at Workplaces in South Africa

Shivneta Singh (), Ashika Naicker, Heleen Grobbelaar, Evonne Shanita Singh, Donna Spiegelman and Archana Shrestha
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Shivneta Singh: Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, 70 Steve Biko Road, Musgrave, Berea 4001, South Africa
Ashika Naicker: Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, 70 Steve Biko Road, Musgrave, Berea 4001, South Africa
Heleen Grobbelaar: Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, 70 Steve Biko Road, Musgrave, Berea 4001, South Africa
Evonne Shanita Singh: Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, 70 Steve Biko Road, Musgrave, Berea 4001, South Africa
Donna Spiegelman: Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Center of Methods for Implementation and Prevention Science, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Archana Shrestha: Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Center of Methods for Implementation and Prevention Science, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT 06510, USA

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Current evidence indicates that workplace health and wellness programmes provide numerous benefits concerning altering cardiovascular risk factor profiles. Implementing health programmes at workplaces provide an opportunity to engage adults towards positive and sustainable lifestyle choices. The first step in designing lifestyle interventions for the workplace is understanding the barriers and facilitators to implementing interventions in these settings. The barriers and facilitators to implementing lifestyle interventions in the workplace environment was qualitatively explored at two multinational consumer goods companies among seven workplaces in South Africa. Semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted with ten workplace managers. Five focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among workplace employees. The IDI findings revealed that the main facilitators for participation in a lifestyle intervention programme were incentives and rewards, educational tools, workplace support, and engaging lessons. In contrast, the main facilitator of the FGDs was health and longevity. The main barriers from the IDIs included scheduling time for lifestyle interventions within production schedules at manufacturing sites, whereas time limitations, a lack of willpower and self-discipline were the main barriers identified from the FGDs. The findings of this study add to literature on the barriers and facilitators of implementing healthy lifestyle interventions at workplaces and suggest that there is a potential for successfully implementing intervention programmes to improve health outcomes, provided that such efforts are informed and guided through the engagement of workplace stakeholders, an assessment of the physical and food environment, and the availability of workplace resources.

Keywords: workplace; intervention programmes; facilitators; barriers; implementation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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