Active Living in the Trucking Sector: Environmental Barriers and Health Promotion Strategies.
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Yorghos Apostolopoulos, Associate Professor (Creator)
- Lauren Haldeman, Associate Professor (Creator)
- Mona M. Shattell, Associate Professor (Creator)
- Sevil Sonmez, Professor and Department Head (Creator)
- Robert W. Strack, Associate Professor and Department Head (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: Background: As one of the most underserved segments of the U.S. labor force, truck drivers have been
associated with a series of morbid conditions intimately linked to their occupational milieux, their mostly
unhealthful nutritional intake and sedentary lifestyles, and their resulting excess weight-gain. Methods: This
paper reports data from a baseline assessment of 25 trucking work settings located around interstate highways
I-40 and I-85 in North Carolina. It examines how the environmental attributes of these work settings influence
the physical and recreational activity behaviors of truckers, compares findings with those from other
occupational environments, and brings to the fore a new health promotion paradigm for trucking worksites.
Results: Findings support growing empirical and anecdotal evidence that trucking work settings remain not
only active-living deserts, but overall unhealthful places. A scan of physical, social, and information environments
within trucking worksites as well as physical environments of surrounding communities reveal only
meager opportunities for physical and recreational activity for truckers. Conclusion: This paper places the
highly underserved population of truckers firmly within the discourse of worksite health promotion, and calls
for comprehensive multistakeholder wellness strategies that address a multitude of risk factors linked to the
occupational context.
Active Living in the Trucking Sector: Environmental Barriers and Health Promotion Strategies.
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Created on 5/30/2013
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Language: English
- Date: 2012
- Keywords
- trucking worksites, environmental barriers, physical activity, obesity-associated morbidities, obesity, trucking, health promotion, health