Office workers’ beliefs about reducing sitting time at work:A belief elicitation study

Objectives Prolonged sitting has adverse health consequences, yet office workers can spend over 10 hours sitting each day. The Theory of Planned Behaviour may offer a useful perspective for understanding and enhancing psychological determinants of sitting at work. The aim of this belief elicitation study was to identify office workers’ most salient beliefs relating to achieving the recently published Public Health England recommendation of accumulating at least two hours per day of standing and light activity at work. Methods Full-time office-based workers (n = 105) responded to our invitation on Twitter to complete an on-line questionnaire. Participants responded to six open-ended questions about their behavioural (i.e. advantages/disadvantages), normative (i.e. who would approve/disapprove), and control (i.e. easy/difficult) beliefs relating to the target behaviour, and the data were content analysed to identify the most salient themes. Results The most salient advantage of the behaviour was better health (n = 243), and most salient disadvantage was decreased work productivity (n = 64). Participants believed that people in work with a remit for health (n = 34) were likely to approve of the behaviour, but that managers (n = 68) would be likely to disapprove. It was believed that a better physical environment (n = 75) would make it easier, and work demands (n = 102) would make it difficult to execute the behaviour. Conclusions Although participants recognised many benefits of engaging in the behaviour, there was consistent evidence that participants believed the behaviour may have implications for working effectively, and would be influenced by the physical environment and work culture. Interventions should target these salient beliefs

A longitudinal examination of the influence of maturation on physical self-perceptions and the relationship with physical activity in early adolescent girls

This longitudinal study investigated the influence of maturation on physical self-perceptions and the relationship with physical activity in early adolescent girls (N = 150; mean age = 12.79 0.31). Physical characteristics were measured and participants completed the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children, the Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile and the Pubertal Development Scale on two occasions 12 months apart. The results demonstrated a decrease in overall physical activity levels over 12 months which was not influenced by maturational status or physical characteristics. Additional analysis indicated that physical self-perceptions partially accounted for the explained variance in physical activity change, with physical condition being an important individual predictor of physical activity. Further analysis indicated that body mass was an important individual predictor of changes in perceptions of body attractiveness and physical self-worth. At this age maturation has a limited influence on the physical activity behaviours of early adolescent girls and although the variance in physical activity was partly accounted for by physical self-perceptions, this was a relatively small contribution and other factors related to this drop in physical activity need to be considered longitudinally

How much walking should be advocated for good health in adolescent girls?

Background:\ud It is currently not known how much walking should be advocated for good health in adolescent girls. The aim of this study was therefore to recommend health referenced standards for step defined physical activity relating to appropriate health criterion/indicators in a group of adolescent girls.\ud \ud Method:\ud Two hundred and thirty adolescent girls aged between 12-15years volunteered to take part in the study. Each participant undertook measurements (BMI, waist circumference, % body fat and blood pressure) to define health status. Activity data were collected by pedometer and used to assess daily step counts and accumulated daily activity time over seven consecutive days.\ud \ud Results:\ud Individuals classified as ‘healthy’ did not take significantly more steps·day−1 nor spend more time in moderate intensity activity than individuals classified as at health risk or with poor health profiles.\ud \ud Conclusion:\ud ‘Healthy’ adolescent girls do not walk significantly more in term of steps·day−1 or time spent in activity than girls classified as ‘unhealthy’. This could suggest that adolescent girls may not walk enough to stratify health and health related outcomes and as a result the data could not be used to inform an appropriate step guideline for this population

Maturational differences in physical self-perceptions and the relationship with physical activity in early adolescent girls

This cross-sectional study examined the effect of physical self-perceptions and maturation on physical activity, and considered the influence of maturation and age on physical self-perceptions in early adolescent girls (n = 208; mean age = 11.83 ± 0.39 years). Participants completed the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children, the Children’s Physical Self-Perception Profile and the Pubertal Development Scale. Results indicated that the girls were relatively active and physical self-perceptions were significantly and moderately correlated with physical activity. There were no differences in physical activity between maturation stages. There was evidence of an inverse relationship between aspects of physical self-perceptions and maturation, but not with chronological age. This study has identified preliminary evidence for an interaction between maturation, physical self-perceptions and physical activity, but longitudinal research is required to examine this in more detail