INTRODUCTION

You're a team of three occupational health nurses employed by a computer technology firm. You have a caseload of European-Americans (AKA “White”) men recently diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.

Your team has permission to set aside 20 minutes/week for group meetings for these employees. At the first meeting, common factors among all group members included a sedentary lifestyle and a diet that relied heavily on vending machines, fast-food chains and restaurant buffets. Comments were, “I don’t have time for exercise” and “after a long day at the office, I am so tired that all I want to do is grab a quick meal and relax until bedtime” and “Life is too short to waste on exercise and rabbit food.” All have requested medication to control their problems in lieu of lifestyle changes.

What will your team do ... What evidence will you find ... to convince these employees that lifestyle changes are important even though medications may control some of their problems?