Description
Evidence indicates health coaching (HC) programs help people improve their health and management of chronic disease. The study evaluated whether participation in Healthy Adventures Foundation’s (HAF) employee-based HC program was associated with pre-post changes in body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and blood pressure (BP) among individuals completing at least 12 HC sessions between January 2015 and September 2016. The study also examined whether duration in the program was associated with changes in these health outcomes. A one-group, pre-post study design was used. Of the 472 participants during the study’s time frame, 156 (33.1%) met the inclusion criterion (participation in ? 12 sessions). Of this sample, 33 (21.6%) were excluded from the total analytic sample (n= 123) due to missing follow-up data. The analytic sample was mostly female (88.6%), had an average age of 50.6 years, was 50.4% non-Hispanic White, had an average of 2.5 out of 8 possible health conditions, and completed an average of 30 HC sessions. At baseline the mean BMI of the sample was 33.1 kg/m2, mean WHtR was 0.62, mean systolic BP was 124.2 mmHg, and mean diastolic BP was 78.0 mmHg. Pre-post changes in health outcomes were calculated as the difference between baseline and last measure. An unadjusted paired-sample t-test found overall improvements in all health outcomes, however only improvements in WHtR (p = 0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.03) were statistically significant. Adjusted analysis found some sociodemographic characteristics, but not total number of sessions received, were associated with changes in health outcomes. Findings suggested the HC program was associated with small improvements in health, but there may be a lack of association between program dose and changes in health outcomes that the program targets. A more thorough evaluation of the program with a more rigorous study design and process evaluation could yield new information to understand the program’s effectiveness and identify strategies to improve effectiveness.
