Does This Building Make Me Look Fat? The Relationship Between Work from Home, Barriers and Facilitators to Nutrition and Exercise, and the Role of Stress By

Abstract

Work-related stress has become a public health crisis, which is deeply concerning given the detrimental effects it can have on an individual's mental and physical well-being. It was hypothesized that barriers and facilitators of healthy decision making would be associated with healthy decision making. It was also hypothesized that work from home would be associated with barriers and facilitators of healthy decision making, as well as that barriers and facilitators would be associated with stress. Lastly, a mediation relationship was hypothesized of work from home and stress through barriers and facilitators of healthy decision making. A total of 214 participants engaged in a daily diary survey over a span of five consecutive workdays, reporting their daily dietary and exercise choices, daily factors that acted as barriers or facilitators of those choices, daily stress, and whether they worked from home. This study found support for the association of facilitators with healthy decision making, as well as support for the potential of remote work to decrease the barriers and facilitators of healthy decision making. There was also no support for the mediation relationship hypothesized. Organizations can use the knowledge of various barriers and facilitators of healthy decision making to redesign the organizational practices, create healthy interventions, and promote employee well-being to make it easier for employees to make healthy decisions. Implications and future directions are also discussed.