Evaluating the effectiveness of organisational-level strategies with or without an activity tracker to reduce office workers’ sitting time: a cluster-randomised trial

Abstract

BackgroundOffice workers engage in high levels of sitting time. Effective, context-specific, and scalable strategies are needed to support widespread sitting reduction. This study aimed to evaluate organisational-support strategies alone or in combination with an activity tracker to reduce sitting in office workers.MethodsFrom one organisation, 153 desk-based office workers were cluster-randomised (by team) to organisational support only (e.g., manager support, emails; ‘Group ORG’, 9 teams, 87 participants), or organisational support plus LUMOback activity tracker (‘Group ORG + Tracker’, 9 teams, 66 participants). The waist-worn tracker provided real-time feedback and prompts on sitting and posture. ActivPAL3 monitors were used to ascertain primary outcomes (sitting time during work- and overall hours) and other activity outcomes: prolonged sitting time (≥30 min bouts), time between sitting bouts, standing time, stepping time, and number of steps. Health and work outcomes were assessed by questionnaire. Changes within each group (three- and 12 months) and differences between groups were analysed by linear mixed models. Missing data were multiply imputed.ResultsAt baseline, participants (46 % women, 23–58 years) spent (mean ± SD) 74.3 ± 9.7 % of their workday sitting, 17.5 ± 8.3 % standing and 8.1 ± 2.7 % stepping. Significant (p < 0.05) reductions in sitting time (both work and overall) were observed within both groups, but only at 12 months. For secondary activity outcomes, Group ORG significantly improved in work prolonged sitting, time between sitting bouts and standing time, and overall prolonged sitting time (12 months), and in overall standing time (three- and 12 months); while Group ORG + Tracker, significantly improved in work prolonged sitting, standing, stepping and overall standing time (12 months). Adjusted for confounders, the only significant between-group differences were a greater stepping time and step count for Group ORG + Tracker relative to Group ORG (+20.6 min/16 h day, 95 % CI: 3.1, 38.1, p = 0.021; +846.5steps/16 h day, 95 % CI: 67.8, 1625.2, p = 0.033) at 12 months. Observed changes in health and work outcomes were small and not statistically significant.ConclusionsOrganisational-support strategies with or without an activity tracker resulted in improvements in sitting, prolonged sitting and standing; adding a tracker enhanced stepping changes. Improvements were most evident at 12 months, suggesting the organisational-support strategies may have taken time to embed within the organisation.Trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry: ACTRN12614000252617. Registered 10 March 2014.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-016-0441-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The ability to benefit from an intervention to encourage use of treadmill workstations: Experiences of office workers with overweight or obesity

“…This effect adds to the challenge of implementing such interventions among people who are not participating in a research project. Brakenridge et al [19] concluded that when the intervention is implemented from within the organization, such as being delivered by the head of the workplace wellness office, it is implemented in a way that suits the organization in question. Choosing this approach to implementation can make these interventions more easily scalable to other workplaces [19].…”

“…Brakenridge et al [19] concluded that when the intervention is implemented from within the organization, such as being delivered by the head of the workplace wellness office, it is implemented in a way that suits the organization in question. Choosing this approach to implementation can make these interventions more easily scalable to other workplaces [19]. In our case, the researchers came from outside the organizations, performing the intervention with the installment of the treadmill workstations.…”

Persuasive technology in reducing prolonged sedentary behavior at work: A systematic review

“…It has become a common sense that prolonged sedentary behavior is very unhealthy. This correlates with many preventable diseases and deaths, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, colon cancer, and so on (Brakenridge et al, 2016;Dustan et al, 2011;Knaeps et al, 2016; Thorp et al 2011). Sedentary behavior (SB) refers to any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure less than or equal to 1.5 METs (or metabolic equivalent) with a sitting or reclining posture during tasks such as working at a desk and watching TV (SBRN, 2012).…”

Assessing the Feasibility and Pre-Post Impact Evaluation of the Beta (Test) Version of the BeUpstanding Champion Toolkit in Reducing Workplace Sitting: Pilot Study (Preprint)

“…A key limitation of the previous trials evaluating the Stand Up Australia intervention is the limited diversity of workplaces (typically, white-collar employees of reasonably large metropolitan organisations have been represented) [7][8][9]. Accordingly, the evaluation used purposive sampling to ensure coverage of desk-based workers in a range of industries (including white-/blue-collar), organisational size (small/medium/large, i.e., <20/20-500/>500), and locations (metropolitan/regional).…”

“…The relevance of addressing workplace sitting time for workplace health and safety [2,3] and for public health [4] has been acknowledged and there have been several recent interventions, incorporating a range of activity-promoting strategies, that have demonstrated that reducing prolonged sitting is feasible and acceptable to both employers and employees within the desk-based workplace [5][6][7][8][9].…”