Phone: 860-951-6614
CSEA SEIU Local 2001
Corrections Supervisors Council Blog Nov 05, 2021
CSC?Presents at CPH-NEW?Seminar: Tara Keaton Presents on Healthy Eating in DOC Supervisors
by Drew Stoner
    Tara Keaton, Executive Vice President of the Corrections Supervisors Council (CSC) was invited to present her talk on work, stress and health at a seminar hosted by the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW). CPH-NEW is a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Center for Excellence in Total Worker Health and works through a collaborative effort between UConn and UMass Lowell. This organization conducts research with working people and employers to overcome workplace obstacles to health and creates program toolkits and education to help employers support a health-promoting workplace and a vital, productive workforce. 
    Her presentation titled, “Impact and Evaluation of a Correctional Supervisors’ Design Team Intervention on Healthy Eating,” covered the concern over early mortality rate of our members and their involvement in the CPH-NEW’s Healthy Workplace Participatory Program to address health and well-being factors. Through a union-based Design Team of supervisors, they created and implemented a needs assessment survey which identified three priority health concerns: sleep, mental health and obesity. To facilitate interventions, CSC negotiated an annual wellness day in their contract starting in 2017. 
    Most recently, this program targeted the concern over obesity, which could be due to shift work and overtime, poor sleep, stress and trauma, poor diet and a lack of exercise. Upon further research, it was found that the majority of supervisors were overweight or obese with many indicating poor eating and excercise habits, but a strong desire to improve these habits. 
    The design team tested three hypotheses: increased knowledge of healthy eating practices, better health outcomes and a higher rating on the overall training. And while the training was moved to an online platform due to COVID-19, 173 participants were trained over three months in 2020. 
    Upon successful completion, participants showed an overall increase in knowledge on healthy eating based on surveys and improved habits based on survey results, but the other hypotheses were not supported. Participants identified a handful of ways that the Department of Correction could change to better support employee health which included access to healthy options at work (like vending machines and exercise at work) and more information about health behavior training and further health promotion program offerings.  A key facet to sustaining these identified health and well-being interventions has been their inclusion in the union contract. 
    Overall, the annual wellness day through CSC has been an immense success in the last few years and is a strong example of the need for union participation in non-monetary demands. 

 
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