Make Your Move Experience: A Worksite Wellness Pilot in South Texas

Purpose: To describe the implementation of Make Your Move Experience (MYME) between 2015 and 2017. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Make Your Move Experience is a culturally sensitive worksite wellness program in South Texas designed to encourage sedentary workers to engage in physical activity. Participants: In total, 681 individuals from 19 different organizations. Intervention: UTHealth School of Public Health in Brownsville staff recruited individuals within local organizations to join MYME. At the end of the 3 months, organizations in which employees met MYME goals earned an incentive—bike rack or hydration station—selected to be permanent features of the local environment and facilitate physical activity. Measures: Participant self-reported gender, physical activity level prior to joining MYME (beginner or experienced), and weekly miles of biking, walking, or running completed. Analysis: Mean number of miles biked, walked, and ran each month were compared between (1) beginners and experienced, (2) men and women, and (3) in fall 2016 and spring 2017 using t tests. Results: Beginners initiated physical activity by walking. Men biked more miles than women did (P < .05 all 3 years). Bike riders cycled fewer miles (20.2 miles vs 44.9 miles; P = .03) and walkers covered fewer miles (195.4 miles vs 266.7 miles; P = .04) in fall 2016 compared to spring 2017. Conclusions: Participation in MYME, a culturally appropriate intervention delivered at the worksite, facilitated an increase in physical activity levels among sedentary individuals.