Barriers to Truck Drivers' Healthy Eating: Environmental Influences and Health Promotion Strategies

Abstract

This article presents an assessment of 25 trucking work settings designed to examine whether the environmental attributes of these settings influence eating patterns of truckers who are at risk for excess weight gain. Findings corroborate evidence that these work settings represent healthy food deserts. From restaurants and vending machines to the social/information environments and their surrounding communities, only meager opportunities exist for healthful eating practices. This article aims to place underserved truckers and warehousing-sector employees firmly within the discourse of workplace health promotion and calls for multistakeholder wellness strategies that encompass the intertwined risk factors linked with the transportation work environment.

KEYWORDS:

• environmental barriers
• healthy food options
• trucking work settings

Notes

Note. LTL = less than truckload; FTL = full truckload; HoS = Hours of Service. HoS can be best explained with an example—If a driver follows the 70-hour/8-day limit and works 14 hours for 5 days in a row, she or he will have been on duty for 70 hours. She or he would not be able to drive again until she or he drops below 70 hours worked in one 8-day period. However, if his or her company allows the use of the 34-hour restart provision, she or he would have driving time available immediately after 34 consecutive hours off duty. She or he would then begin a new period of 8 consecutive days and have 70 hours available.

Note. HEATWAI = Healthy Trucking Work-settings Audit Instrument.

^a 90% to 100% of max possible score (fully supportive of healthful eating); 75% to 89.9% (mostly supportive); 50% to 74.9% (partially supportive); 35% to 49.9% (scarcely supportive); < 35% (not at all supportive).

^b Subscales 1 and 2 comprise the total index for food venues (with 11.7% support rating for healthful eating).

^c Scores have been rounded to closest integer.

Note. HEATWAI = Healthy Trucking Work-settings Audit Instrument.

^a Scores have been rounded to closest integer.

^b 90% to 100% of max possible score (fully supportive of active living); 75% to 89.9% (mostly supportive); 50% to 74.9% (partially supportive); 35% to 49.9% (scarcely supportive); < 35% (not at all supportive).