A workplace intervention designed to interrupt prolonged occupational sitting. Self-reported perceptions of health from a cohort of desk-based employees over 26 weeks

• Pages: 221-237
• Published date: 13 June 2016
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-01-2015-0005
• Date: 13 June 2016
• Author: Casey P. Mainsbridge,Dean Cooley,Sharon P Fraser,Scott J Pedersen
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Healthcare management

A workplace intervention

designed to interrupt prolonged

occupational sitting

Self-reported perceptions of health from a

cohort of desk-based employees over 26 weeks

Casey P. Mainsbridge, Dean Cooley, Sharon P. Fraser and

Scott J. Pedersen

Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania,

Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of a workplace intervention

designed to interrupt prolonged occupational sitting time (POST) and its impact on the self-reported

health of a cohort of desk-based employees.

Design/methodology/approach –In total, 43 participants received an interactive computer-based

software intervention for 26 weeks. For the first 13 weeks the intervention passively prompted the

participants to interrupt POST and perform brief bouts of non-purposeful movement. The second

13 weeks involved the passivity of the intervention being removed, with the intervention only

accessible voluntarily by the participant. This approach was adopted to determine the sustainability of

the intervention to change workplace health behaviour.

Findings –ANOVA results revealed a significant interaction between group and test occasion,

F(2, 42) ¼2.79 , po0.05, such that the experimental group increased their total health from pre-test

to post-test (13 week s), and to second post- test (26 weeks) with a m edium effect size of

Cohen’sd¼0.37.

Research limitations/implications –An action research approach was implemented for this study,

and hence the participants were organised into one group. Based on a communitarian model, the

intervention aimed to monitor how desk-based employees adapted to specific health behaviours, and

therefore a control group was not included.

Practical implications –Passively prompting desk-based employees to interrupt POST and

perform non-purposeful movement at work improved self-reported health. Participant perceptions of

health were maintained following the removal of the passive feature of the intervention.

Social implications –Interventions predicated on a social ecological model that modify how

employees interact with the workplace environment might provide a framework for health behaviour

change in populations where sitting is customary.

Originality/value –The passive approach used in this study removed the individual decision-

making process to engage in health behaviour change, and established a sustainable effect on

participant health.

Keywords Workplace health, Personal health, Workplace wellness, Health promotion,

Public health, Wellness interventions

Paper type Research paper

International Journal of Workplace

Health Management

Vol. 9 No. 2, 2016

pp. 221-237

©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited

1753-8351

DOI 10.1108/IJWHM-01-2015-0005

Received 20 January 2015

Revised 11 August 2015

1February2016

Accepted 3 February 2016

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/1753-8351.htm

This study was funded in part by a Tasmanian Government (Australia) Healthy at Work grant

(www.healthyatwork.tas.gov.au). Study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, writing of

the report and submission of the results were not influenced by the funding source. The Tasmanian

Department of Police and Emergency Services organisation for allowing access to various worksites

and employees. The authors declare that there were no conflicts of interest in this experiment.

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Workplace

intervention

1. Background

In the last two decades modern day workplaces have become environments where

employees sit for prolonged periods due to there being little need to move. Increasingly

employees remain desk-based and perform the majority of their occupations comfortably

seated through interaction with technology such as computers, headset communication

devices, mobile applications, and desktop printers. In the literature the term “sitting”is

interpreted as time spent in sedentary behaviour, resulting in little or no physical activity

energy expenditure (Healy et al., 2012). Recent reports indicate that desk-based employees

such as office workers, call centre workers, secretaries, and receptionists spend over two

thirds of the working day sitting (Mork and Westgaard, 2007; Parry and Straker, 2013)

with evidence of Australian and Swedish workers sitting for almost 80 per cent of the time

while at work (Thorp et al., 2009; Toomingas et al., 2012). Furthermore, previous research

has identified that individuals typically spend a third of their waking time and over

40 years of their lives at work (Vaughan-Jones and Barham, 2009), of which an average of

80,000 hours is spent sitting (Dunstan et al., 2010). The workplace has been recognised as a

key setting to reduce occupational sitting behaviour in desk-based populations. According

to Thorp et al. (2009) prolonged occupational sitting time (POST) is defined as an

uninterrupted period of sitting that is equal to or greater than four hours.

It has been claimed that POST might increase the risk of developing chronic

diseases such as type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and is also associa ted

with unhealthy blood lipid profiles, unhealthy weight, musculoskeletal disorders, and

premature death from heart disease (Hamilton et al., 2008; Healy et al., 2012;

Katzmarzyk et al., 2009; Katzmarzyk, 2010; Owen et al., 2010). In addition, time spent in

specific sitting behaviours such as using a computer has been adversely linked to

depression (Teychenne et al., 2010), and a higher risk of being in poor mental health

(Sanchez-Villegas et al., 2008). A popular response to combatting the adverse health

effects related to POST has been for health professionals and health researchers to

promote regular participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, typically

150 minutes per week (Garber et al., 2011; WHO, 2015). Although participation in

regular physical activity is a foundation for chronic disease prevention and

management, the deleterious health consequences linked with POST have been shown

to be independent of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (Dunstan et al., 2005, 2012;

Healy et al., 2008; Owen et al., 2010). These findings emphasise that to improve the

health and well-being of desk-based employees, POST and time spent being physically

active need to be considered as distinct behaviours with exclusive physiological effects.

To date workplace health interventions have been reported to positively impact on

physical activity behaviour (Conn et al., 2009; Dugdill et al., 2008; Proper et al., 2003) and

individual well-being (Dishman et al., 1998). Despite these encouraging outcomes,

previous investigations of workplace health interventionshave demonstrated trends that

suggest that short-term responses to health behaviour change are effective, but

adherence to healthbehaviour change long termhas been less effective (Leslieet al.,2005;

Napolitano et al., 2003; Robroek et al., 2009). A systematic review of workplace

interventionsfor reducing sitting time (Chau et al., 2010)revealed that in all of the studies

reviewed none of them had the primary intention of reducing POST; this was either a

secondary focus or not at all. Collectively this evidence suggests that workplace health

interventions canproduce positive outcomes, but thereis limited support to suggest that

these outcomes are sustained over a longer time period of three months. Currently a gap

exists in the literature regarding the effectiveness of interventions to reduce POST, and

subsequent measure of health outcomes to evaluate such effectiveness.

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