Health Protection & Promotion for Oregon Correctional Officers (DOC HEALTH)

More than 530,000 individuals work as US Correctional Officers (COs) responsible for overseeing the approximately 1.6 million offenders who are incarcerated at any given time in the United States. Prison work is regarded as one of the most difficult occupations with CO's having one of the highest nonfatal injury rates of all U.S. occupations. The few studies done on CO's show high levels of stress, cardiovascular disease, high job burnout, increased sick leave rates and absenteeism, and decreased quality of life leading to premature illness/injury and high employer healthcare costs. Many of these conditions could be prevented by specific training activities and healthier lifestyles. The investigators wish to test a worksite-based, health promotion curriculum in COs with the overall hypothesis that the program will improve health and decrease injuries. The program proposed would be the first occupational intervention to improve the safety, and emotional and physical health of those who are charged with the complex task of prison work protecting the investigators communities. If successful, this proposal would result in an exportable, practical occupational safety and health program applicable for use by local, state, and federal correctional facilities.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Physical Activity; Stress, Psychological; Metabolic Syndrome; Health Promotion; Nutrition
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Testing & Intervention

Detailed Description

Investigators will enroll up to 100 Correctional Officers from four Oregon Department of Corrections facilities for a randomized controlled 1-year assessment of the intervention. Participants will be evaluated at baseline, 6, and 12 months.

Primary study aims are; 1) Implement a randomized controlled efficacy trial of the Team-centered health promotion intervention, and assess its behavioral and occupational outcomes among COs, 2) Perform a cost analysis to determine the potential economic impact of this CO worksite health promotion program on illness/injury rates and disability claims, and 3) Determine relationships among specific intervention components with changes to behavior and occupational outcomes and assess by mediation analysis.

The intervention involves a scripted peer-taught interactive curriculum, which is delivered as twelve, 30 minute weekly sessions incorporated into a team's usual work time activities. The curriculum is designed to build understanding, healthy decision making skills and engender the social support of teammates; its content and scope reflects the core lifestyles activities used with fire fighters and law enforcement, along with adaptations for the needs of Correctional Officers in domains of the team-building, family support and psychological health.

Participant assessments include established survey instruments, physiological measures and selected laboratory parameters of outcomes and potential mediating variables at the individual, interpersonal and organizational levels. Intervention delivery and fidelity will be assessed. Multilevel and latent growth modeling and mediation analyses will be used to assess outcomes and the relationships among variables. At proposal completion there will be an evidenced-based, exportable occupational safety and health program for COs. Its critical components will be defined, and its benefits clearly determined.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 86
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Oregon
    • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97239
      • Oregon Health and Science University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• security employee of a participating facility in the Oregon Department of Corrections

Exclusion Criteria:

• none

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Testing Only
Experimental: Testing & Intervention	Behavioral: Testing & Intervention; Intervention involves a scripted peer-taught interactive curriculum, which is delivered as twelve, 30 minute weekly sessions incorporated into a team's usual work time or overtime activities.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline in BMI at 6 and 12 months	calculation of direct measurement of height and weight	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Fruit and Vegetable Intake at 6 and 12 months	questionnaire, NCI fruit/vegetables (Thompson et al., 2002)	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Physical Activity at 6 and 12 months	questionnaire; Elliot et al., 2007	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Stress at 6 and 12 months	questionnaire; Netemeyer RG et al, 1996; Cohen et al., 1983; Stanton et al, 2001	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Sleep at 6 and 12 months	questionnaire; Sorenson et al., 2011; Buysee et al., 1989; Buxton et al.; Rajaratnam et al., 2011	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Alcohol Use at 6 and 12 months	questionnaire	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Tobacco Use at 6 and 12 months	questionnaire; study specific development	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline in Blood Pressure at 6 and 12 months	direct measurement	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Percent Body Fat at 6 and 12 months	direct measurement via Bioelectric Impedance Analysis scale	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Lipids and Lipoproteins at 6 and 12 months	direct measurement via Cholestech LDX analyzer	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Change from baseline in Glucose at 6 and 12 months	direct measurement via Cholestech LDX analyzer	Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Cost-Effective Analysis	analysis of departmental aggregate data of injury rates and workers compensation claims	12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Oregon Health and Science University
• Collaborators: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH/CDC); Oregon Healthy Workforce Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kerry S Kuehl, MD, DrPH, Oregon Health and Science University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: January 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 1, 2014
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 7, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 27, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): March 28, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): October 30, 2015
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 28, 2015
• Last Verified: October 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Metabolic Diseases; Insulin Resistance; Hyperinsulinism; Metabolic Syndrome; Stress, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: e7925; U19OH010154 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)