Worksite Social Connections and Food Choice: Identifying Opportunities for Obesity Prevention

 描述（由申请人提供）：肥胖仍然是美国发病率和死亡率的主要可预防原因之一，肥胖的增加主要归因于食物选择。众所周知，食物的选择（质量、数量）受到社会和自然环境的影响。最近的研究表明，肥胖可能通过社交网络“传播”。降低肥胖风险的策略可以利用社会关系和肥胖之间的关系，但需要进一步研究社会和物理环境与食物选择之间的相互作用，以帮助确定可能的机制，可以利用这些机制来改善健康。工作场所是研究社会关系和食物选择之间关系的理想场所。有工作的人大约有一半的醒着的时间是在工作场所度过的，几乎每个人都在工作日吃饭。工作场所的饮食机构（如食堂）提供了一个独特的机会，研究肥胖预防策略，利用建立社会关系和食品购买环境的相互作用。自2010年以来，我们在马萨诸塞州总医院（MGH）食品服务系统内进行了一系列干预，并研究了它们对健康食品购买的影响。在MGH出售的所有食品都被分配了交通灯标签，这些标签由美国农业部饮食指南告知，并明确传达了信息，以表明食品选择的健康性。我们发现，为员工提供社会规范反馈（同行比较）会增加健康食品的选择。在初步分析中，我们还确定了健康/不健康食品购买行为的关联，其社会关系已从自助餐厅和行政数据中推断出来。在目前的提案中，我们使用MGH自助餐厅系统来测试社会联系和食物选择之间的关系是否因员工特征和特定的食物环境而异（目标1）。使用先前随机试验的数据，测试社会规范反馈对健康食品选择的影响，我们将确定干预对员工食品选择的积极影响是否被他们的社会关系放大，并通过社会关系传递给他们的同事（目标2）。我们在这个真实世界的食品选择“实验室”建立的客观数据收集系统使我们能够对工作场所的社交网络以及这些因素与食品环境的相互作用进行新的调查。这项研究的结果将使我们 开发和测试新的干预措施，可以利用社会联系和食物环境来改善食物选择和降低肥胖风险。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity continues to be among the leading preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States and much of the rise in obesity is attributable to food choice. It is well-established that food choices (quality, quantity are affected by social and physical environments. Recent research has suggested that obesity might be "transmitted" through social networks. Strategies to reduce obesity risk could be designed to take advantage of the relationship between social connections and obesity, but further investigation of the interactions between social and physical environments and food choice is needed to help identify possible mechanisms that could be leveraged to improve health. The workplace is an ideal setting to study the relationship between social connections and food choice. Employed individuals spend roughly half their waking hours in the workplace and nearly everyone eats during the workday. Workplace eating establishments (e.g. cafeterias) provide a unique opportunity to study obesity prevention strategies that capitalize on the interactions of established social connections and the food purchasing environment. Since 2010, we have undertaken a series of interventions within the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) food services system and studied their impact on purchases of healthy food items. All food items sold at MGH have been assigned traffic light labels informed by USDA dietary guidelines with clearly communicated messaging to indicate the healthfulness of food choices. We have found that providing employees with social norms feedback (peer comparisons) increases healthy food choices. In preliminary analyses, we have also identified associations in healthy/unhealthy food purchasing behaviors among employees whose social connections have been inferred from cafeteria and administrative data. In the current proposal, we use the MGH cafeteria system to test whether the relationship between social connectedness and food choice varies by employee characteristics and specific food environments (Aim 1). Using data from a prior randomized trial testing the influence of social norms feedback on healthy food choices, we will determine whether the positive effects of the intervention on employees' food choices are amplified by their social connections and transmitted through social connections to their co-workers (Aim 2). Our established, objective data collection system in this real-world food choice "laboratory" allows us to conduct novel investigations of worksite social networks and the interaction of these factors with the food environment. Results from this research will position us to develop and test new interventions that can leverage social connectedness and the food environment to improve food choices and reduce obesity risk.