Workplace Health Promotion in Italian University Employees: Effects on Body Composition and Mediterranean Diet Adherence

Alessia Moroni, Margherita Micheletti Cremasco (), Giorgio Gilli and Raffaella Degan
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Alessia Moroni: Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, 10123 Torino, Italy
Margherita Micheletti Cremasco: Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, 10123 Torino, Italy
Giorgio Gilli: University Service Center in Hygiene and Sport Sciences (SUISM), University of Torino, Via Marenco 32, 10126 Torino, Italy
Raffaella Degan: University Service Center in Hygiene and Sport Sciences (SUISM), University of Torino, Via Marenco 32, 10126 Torino, Italy

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: As Workplace Health Promotion is spreading among several working environments, the university context seems to be one of the best to apply primary prevention activities. Working in this direction, the University of Torino led the Wellness@Work for UniTo Project (W@W), with the aim of promoting employees’ health. Internal university professionals assessed body composition and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), giving on-target advice for improving lifestyle. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the W@W Project after a 4-month intervention period. This project was addressed to university employees, who could participate on a voluntary basis. Researchers assessed (T1) socio-demographic information and collected anthropometric variables. Body composition was evaluated through Classic and Specific Bioelectrical impedance Vector Analysis (BIVA). Adherence to the MD was assessed through the Medi-Lite questionnaire. After the assessments, participants were given 5-min counselling from internal professionals. After about 4 months, participants were supposed to undergo same assessments (T2). Overall, 479 workers joined the project, and of those, 246 came back for the T2 assessment. Globally, either anthropometric, body composition, or MD variables improved significantly after 4 months, both for male and female samples, suggesting how an easy-to-apply WHP intervention could help to improve workers’ health.

Keywords: workplace health promotion; university; employees; body composition; anthropometry; Mediterranean diet (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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