Bodyworks: From a Toolkit and a Trainer to a National Healthy Lifestyle Program

Background: Nearly one in three children in the United States is overweight or obese, as is more than one in three American adults.

Program background: In 2000, in an effort to combat the growing obesity problem in the United States, the HHS Office on Women’s Health (OWH) began developing BodyWorks, a toolkit for parents and their adolescent daughters, complete with hands-on materials to help family members achieve and maintain healthy weights through physical activity and nutrition education. In 2005, OWH tasked Hager Sharp with promoting this free resource.

Evaluation Methods and Results: The team at Hager Sharp determined that in order to promote this toolkit and corresponding curriculum, we needed to build a comprehensive program around it first. We identified the need for—and developed—a concrete dissemination strategy for both the toolkit and the multi-week curriculum associated with it, to reach families around the country and enable them to adopt healthier habits. We constructed a train-the-trainer model to disseminate the program, led pilot trainings in OWH’s 10 regions across the country, built partnerships, and identified other strategic opportunities for program expansion. Our train-the-trainer model resulted in rapid growth for BodyWorks—both in the number of trainers and parents involved and in geographical reach—and as it did, we created a comprehensive technical assistance program. We offered individualized assistance to BodyWorks trainers and families: template materials for trainers, including sample news releases, budget templates, checklists, and a sponsorship letter;  trainer and parent listservs and newsletters; a promotional video, a webinar series, and more. We began conducting online trainings, which enabled us to expand BodyWorks to all 50 states and several U.S. territories. Results from a national evaluation confirmed that BodyWorks significantly increased participant knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to healthy eating and physical activity. OWH then expanded the program to include men and boys—from its original all-female audience—to bring the habit-changing materials and information of BodyWorks to all family members. They also created a Spanish version of the program, and continued national evaluation.

Conclusions: Armed initially with only a toolkit, Hager Sharp built OWH’s BodyWorks into a large-scale program with great national reach and a comprehensive technical assistance model, helping thousands of American families take the first steps toward adopting healthier behaviors. BodyWorks now has a vast network of more than 4,500 trainers across the country, thousands of families have completed the program, and we’ve built an extensive partnership base, including relationships with Curves, Dr. Oz’s HealthCorps, the American Dietetic Association’s Kids Eat Right campaign, and many more.

Implications for research and/or practice: In the health communications arena, firms are often charged with promoting practical client materials. In the case of BodyWorks, Hager Sharp proved that product promotion is not always the place to start. As we’ve illustrated in our efforts for BodyWorks, a strategic plan and vision—for turning a product into a true program—was an essential first step in the promotion process.