Rise and Recharge: Exploring Employee Perceptions of and Contextual Factors Influencing an Individual-Level E-Health Smartphone Intervention to Reduce Office Workers’ Sedentary Time at Work

Abstract

This feasibility study explored the contextual factors influencing office workers’ adherence to an e-health intervention targeting total and prolonged sedentary time over 12 weeks. A three-arm quasi-randomized intervention included prompts at 30 or 60 min intervals delivered via a smartphone application, and a no-prompt comparison arm. Fifty-six office workers completed baseline (64% female) and 44 completed the 12 week follow-up (80% retention). Ecological momentary assessments (EMA) captured contextual data, with 82.8 ± 24.9 EMA prompt questionnaires completed weekly. Two focus groups with n = 8 Prompt 30 and 60 participants were conducted one-month post-intervention to address intervention acceptability and feasibility. Contextual findings indicate that when working on a sedentary task (i.e., reading or screen-based work) and located at an individual workstation, hourly prompts may be more acceptable and feasible for promoting a reduction in total and prolonged sedentary time compared to 30 min prompts. Interpersonal support also appears important for promoting subtle shifts in sedentary working practices. This novel study gives a real-time insight into the factors influencing adherence to e-health prompts. Findings identified unique, pragmatic considerations for delivering a workplace e-health intervention, indicating that further research is warranted to optimize the method of intervention delivery prior to evaluation of a large-scale intervention.

Adherence to eHealth-Delivered Exercise in Adults with no Specific Health Conditions: A Scoping Review on a Conceptual Challenge

“…Table 1 summarizes the key characteristics in the selected studies. Issuing countries included Australia [ 30 , 31 ], Greece [ 32 ], Spain [ 33 , 34 ], The Netherlands [ 35 ], Germany [ 36 ], United States of America [ 37 , 38 ], United Kingdom [ 28 , 39 ], China [ 40 ] and Taiwan [ 41 ]. A noticeable increase in the number of publications could be seen for 2021 and 2022.…”

“…In general, this review comprised a range of technologies and measures applied to the evaluation of adherence ( Table 1 ). The technologies used included computers [ 32 ], internet or websites [ 31 , 36 , 37 ], Amazon Alexa and internet [ 30 ], video platforms [ 33 , 38 , 39 ], and mobile applications [ 28 , 34 , 35 , 40 , 41 ]. See Figure 2 .…”

“…As is customary in scoping reviews, the nature of the studies reviewed was heterogeneous, not only due to the different technologies used but also in regard to the choice of intervention, delivery, and registry mode, among other things. Most (8 out of 13) of the reviewed articles assessed adherence to exercise programs, protocols or interventions [ 30 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 41 ]; one focused on adherence to changes in PA levels [ 36 ], one focused on adherence to app-delivered prompts [ 28 ], one assessed adherence to a single exercise [ 40 ], one measured adherence to a PA intervention [ 31 ], and one focused on establishing a prediction of adherence based on a previously published pilot study [ 34 ]. In addition to measuring adherence to the exercise program, one of the studies also aimed to assess adherence to exercise volume [ 35 ] and yet another aimed to assess adherence to the exercise training dose [ 38 ].…”

“…The study by Morris et al focused on adherence to app-delivered prompts, as opposed to app-delivered exercises. They interchangeably use the term “participant compliance” and operationalized adherence to the prompts as the total number of participant responses [ 28 ]. Lastly, the study by Jossa-Bastidas et al consisted of a deep-learning-developed prediction model for adherence to a given exercise app.…”

“…This should be borne in mind, as it has been shown that more complex behavioral recommendations tend to lead to higher nonadherence rates [ 16 ]. In an attempt to tackle this, researchers focused on assessing adherence to the prompts delivered via health technologies and found that it tended to diminish over time [ 28 ].…”