ActivPAL Compliance, Reliability, And Activity Characteristics Of Remote Employees During COVID

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to report the expected mail time, compliance, difference between weekday and weekend activity, and reliability of the ActivPAL device through a mail-based study in remote sedentary workers during COVID-19. METHODS: Participants (N = 47) were employees with sedentary jobs. ActivPAL devices were mailed with instructions to wear for 6 full days and return via mail. Upon return, data were downloaded and processed with the CREA algorithm in PAL Software. Using the events file, data were processed in R to provide daily measures of compliance, as well as reliability measures of each activity. Summary statistics were calculated for the amount of time an individual spends awake while wearing the device (waking wear). Paired sample t-tests were performed on each activity to compare differences between weekdays and weekend days, and two-sided p-values were reported. Reliability was measured using Cronbach’s alpha for each activity with samples of six days, discarding participant data with fewer than six days. RESULTS: The time per device from initialization to data downloaded (time to mail, wear, and return) was 21.3 ± 3.6 days. The average waking wear across all participants was 15.8 ± 1.93 hours. High compliance was measured with 4.3% (n = 2) with 0 valid days, 2.1% (n = 1) with 1 valid day, 10.6% (n = 5) with 5 valid days, 61.7% (n = 29) with 6, and 21.3% (n = 10) with 7+ valid days. Paired sample t-tests comparing weekdays and weekends are reported below, as well as the reliability measures are reported below: CONCLUSIONS: This study reports valuable considerations for mail-based study protocols with the ActivPAL. Using the ActivPAL in our sample of full-time sedentary adult employees, showed high compliance, about an 18 day turn-around between device measurements, and acceptably reliable daily data for select activities with only six days of wear.