Abstract
Occupational sedentary behaviour is a growing health concern which accounts for almost half of overall sedentary behaviour. Multi-component interventions are effective for reducing occupational sedentary behaviour. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a theory-informed, personalised intervention for the reduction of occupational sedentary behaviour of office workers. Full-time office-based workers were asked to complete an online survey to explore their perception of sedentary behaviour. Following this, pre-intervention activity patterns were collected for 5 days via an ActivPAL and a self-report workbook. The participants met with the investigator to discuss the key themes identified from the online survey, individual ActivPAL and self-report data. Participants set goals for the 6-week intervention, signed a commitment contract with stage of change and self-efficacy explored. During the final intervention week, participants wore an ActivPAL and were invited to participate in a follow-up interview. Twenty-seven office-based workers reduced occupational sitting time by an average of 45.2 ± 60.7 min per workday. Self-efficacy increased post intervention (pre: 69 ± 21%; post: 82 ± 16%). The follow-up interviews indicated that the intervention increased awareness of occupational sedentary behaviour and provided insight into the key behaviour change strategies utilised in the intervention.
Highlights
Occupational sedentary behaviour is considered to be an emerging public health concern (Chu et al, 2016; Dunstan et al, 2013)
Participants Forty-nine participants provided informed consent and were eligible to participate in the intervention and completed the survey
Thirty-eight participants completed the intervention (78% completion rate) only 27 participants (4 males, 23 females; 55% of original sample group) had sufficient data to be included in the analysis
Summary
Occupational sedentary behaviour is considered to be an emerging public health concern (Chu et al, 2016; Dunstan et al, 2013). As a result of positive health outcomes associated with interrupting and reducing sedentary behaviour, Buckley et al (2015) suggest individuals who are employed in predominantly desk-based occupations should work towards achieving 2 h per day of standing or moving during work hours gradually progressing to 4 h per day during work hours. A recent review (Chu et al, 2016) suggests that a multi-component intervention including some behavioural and educational and environmental components are the most effective when addressing workplace sedentary behaviour. It has been suggested that a larger number of behaviour change strategies (7 ± 5 strategies) are associated with successful behaviour change (Gardner et al, 2016)
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