May 25, 2009 – Workplaces where everyone has access to e-mail could help their employees who want it to adopt better lifestyles. The thing? A personalized email message program that focuses on individual tastes and abilities.
This is what Kaiser Permanente, a group insurance company based in California, has successfully observed after having tried it for 16 weeks with 787 employees, aged 44 on average.
For the research, the employees were divided into two groups. Half of them received personalized emails, while the rest received general incentive messages.
Entitled ALIVE1, the program put forward by the company offered its participants to achieve at least one of the following objectives:
- Eat more fruits and vegetables.
- Get more physical activity.
- Eat less saturated fat or sugar.
Personalized emails
After having chosen their objective, employees received, directly and at regular intervals, e-mail messages to gradually accompany them in their process. The messages offered activities that took into account each person’s personal situation.
During the program, participants were constantly monitored. The researchers could thus see their evolution and adapt the messages according to the difficulties of each one in order to promote their success.
Result: four months after the start of the program, all those who received personalized messages had improved their lifestyle, compared to the others.
However, it was among the most sedentary as well as those who ate the least fruits and vegetables at the start of the study that the program was most successful.
Thus, those who wanted to move more increased the time spent in moderate physical activity by 55 minutes per week. Likewise, those who ate the fewest fruits and vegetables initially increased their intake by one serving per day. Finally, there was a reduction of 1.5 g of saturated fat per day in those who consumed the most, four months earlier.
The researchers also noted that the program resulted in more general lifestyle changes among participants, even though they initially opted for only one change.
For example, those who had chosen the “fruits and vegetables” module were numerous to do more physical activity, and vice versa.
According to the authors, the success of the ALIVE program is mainly due to the fact that e-mail is a personalized means of communication, to which employees have easy access in the course of their work. In addition, it is inexpensive for businesses.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. Sternfeld B, et al, Improving diet and physical activity with ALIVE: a worksite randomized trial, Am J Prev Med, June 2009, vol. 36, no 6, 475-83.
