A Pilot Study of Increasing Nonpurposeful Movement Breaks at Work as a Means of Reducing Prolonged Sitting

There is a plethora of workplace physical activity interventions designed to increase purposeful movement, yet few are designed to alleviate prolonged occupational sitting time. A pilot study was conducted to test the feasibility of a workplace e-health intervention based on a passive approach to increase nonpurposeful movement as a means of reducing sitting time. The study was trialled in a professional workplace with forty-six participants (33 females and 13 males) for a period of twenty-six weeks. Participants in the first thirteen weeks received a passive prompt every 45 minutes on their computer screen reminding them to stand and engage in nonpurposeful activity throughout their workday. After thirteen weeks, the prompt was disabled, and participants were then free to voluntary engage the software. Results demonstrated that when employees were exposed to a passive prompt, as opposed to an active prompt, they were five times more likely to fully adhere to completing a movement break every hour of the workday. Based on this pilot study, we suggest that the notion that people are willing to participate in a coercive workplace e-health intervention is promising, and there is a need for further investigation

Intentions and Behaviours: Record-Keeping Practices of Pre-Service Teachers During Professional Experience

The current expectation of teachers in Australia is that they are able to collect, interpret, and use data related to teaching and learning. Digital technologies in schools, such as electronic methods of record-keeping, offer enhanced opportunities for teachers to perform this skill, and its application has been growing steadily in education. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine fourth-year pre-service teachers’ behaviour in record-keeping whilst on their final professional experience placement. Using Ajzen’s (1992) theory of planned behavior, this study found that most pre-service teachers exhibited positive attitudes toward the behaviour of recording, using, and analysing classroom data. Despite this positive attitude, many pre-service teachers were unable to maintain any system of record-keeping whilst on placement. For many, this was due to a number of external influences or perceived external influences, which acted as a constraint to their behaviour

Are Australian pre-service physical education teachers prepared to teach inclusive physical education?

Australian pre-service physical education (PE) teachers must be prepared for the reality of teaching in inclusive classrooms. Past studies have indicated that the amount of academic preparedness can affect pre-service PE teachers' intentions to successfully teach in inclusive settings. The current study measured these intentions in a sample of pre-service PE teachers from two different universities. This modified survey required participants to respond to two separate scenarios: one teaching inclusive PE to a student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and one to a student with autism. All participants completed an adapted PE unit with an embedded practicum of different lengths. Findings indicated that pre-service teachers' who experienced the larger adapted PE practicum had more favourable intentions towards teaching students with both disabilities compared to the other cohort. Implications of this research to improve Australian PE teacher training are discussed and recommendations are made

The effect of education on compliance to a workplace health and wellbeing intervention: closing the loop

Desk-based worksites are increasingly the focus of workplace health and wellbeing interventions. These interventions often utilize an educational session prior to participants engaging, yet limited studies have specifically examined the effect education has on compliance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect pre-intervention participant education had on the odds of compliance to a passive e-health software program designed to increase non-exercise activity thermogenesis throughout the workday. Participants in the experimental group (n=46) were exposed to multifaceted pre-intervention participant education one day prior to initiating the e-health software intervention for an eight-week study period. The control group (n=33) also received the intervention for eight weeks, however these participants received no education prior to initiation. The e-health software had a self-report progress recording function, which recorded all logged movement entries to gain frequency counts of per day usage. The experimental group logged more active days, more movements per day and was significantly more compliant to the e-health software (OR=1.87, 95% CI = 1.56-2.24). A pre-intervention participant education session, coupled with a passive e-health software program, was an effective mechanism for decreasing prolonged employee sedentary periods and increasing movement throughout the workday

An e-health intervention designed to increase workday energy expenditure by reducing prolonged occupational sitting habits

Methods: Over a 13-week period participants (n=17) in the intervention group were regularly exposed to a passive prompt delivered through their desktop computer that required them to stand up and engage in a short-burst of physical activity, while the control group (n=17) was not exposed to this intervention. Instead, the control group continued with their normal work routine. All participants completed a pre- and post- intervention survey to estimate workplace daily energy expenditure (calories). Background: Desk-based employees face multiple workplace health hazards such as insufficient physical activity and prolonged sitting. Objective: The objective of this study was to increase workday energy expenditure by interrupting prolonged occupational sitting time and introducing short-bursts of physical activity to employees' daily work habits. Results: There was a significant 2 (Group) × 2 (Test) interaction, F (1, 32)=9.26, p < 0.05. The intervention group increased the calories expended during the workday from pre-test (M=866.29 ± 151.40) to post-test (M=1054.10 ± 393.24), whereas the control group decreased calories expended during the workday from pre-test (M=982.55 ± 315.66) to post-test (M=892.21 ± 255.36). Conclusions: An e-health intervention using a passive prompt was an effective mechanism for increasing employee work-related energy expenditure. Engaging employees in regular short-bursts of physical activity during the workday resulted in reduced sitting time, which may have long-term effects on the improvement of employee health

The effect of an e-health intervention designed to reduce prolonged occupational sitting on mean arterial pressure

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a workplace health intervention designed to reduce prolonged occupational sitting on the mean arterial pressure (MAP) of desk-based employees. Methods: This randomized controlled trial involved an experimental group who received an e-health intervention and a control group who did not. The 13-week intervention passively prompted participants to stand and engage in short bouts of office-based physical activity by interrupting prolonged occupational sitting time periodically throughout the workday. Mean arterial pressure was measured at pretest and posttest. Results: Between pretest and posttest the experimental group significantly reduced their MAP, whereas MAP in the control group did not. Conclusions: A workplace e-health intervention designed to reduce prolonged occupational sitting was effective in decreasing MAP in desk-based employees

Intentions and behaviours: Record-Keeping practices of pre-service teachers during professional experience

The current expectation of teachers in Australia is that they are able to collect, interpret, and use data related to teaching and learning. Digital technologies in schools, such as electronic methods of record-keeping, offer enhanced opportunities for teachers to perform this skill, and its application has been growing steadily in education. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine fourth-year pre-service teachers’ behaviour in record-keeping whilst on their final professional experience placement. Using Ajzen’s (1992) theory of planned behavior, this study found that most pre-service teachers exhibited positive attitudes toward the behaviour of recording, using, and analysing classroom data. Despite this positive attitude, many pre-service teachers were unable to maintain any system of record-keeping whilst on placement. For many, this was due to a number of external influences or perceived external influences, which acted as a constraint to their behaviour

Improving the odds of compliance: using a brief telephone call to decrease pre-treatment attrition in cardiac rehabilitation

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of a brief telephone intervention based on the principles of motivational interviewing to reduce pre-treatment attrition in an Australian cardiac rehabilitation centre. The study was an intact comparison randomly trial. Twenty-eight adult patients diagnosed with symptoms associated with cardio-vascular disease, who were noncompliant to an initial appointment, were randomized to receive either a standard cue call or a motivational interview-based recruitment call. Compliance was measured as attendance at a booked session at the cardiac rehabilitation center. Results showed that patients who received a motivational based telephone call had 6 times the odds as those who received a standard cue telephone call for attending a booked appointment. Reducing pre-treatment attrition from cardio-vascular rehabilitation centers can be accomplished with a brief telephone intervention, which incorporates the spirit of motivational interviewing

Is self-reporting workplace activity worthwhile? Validity and reliability of Occupational Sitting and Physical Activity Questionnaire in desk-based workers BMC Public Health

Background: Accelerometers can obtain precise measurements of movements during the day. However, the individual activity pattern varies from day-to-day and there is limited evidence on measurement days needed to obtain sufficient reliability. The aim of this study was to examine variability in accelerometer derived data on sedentary behaviour and physical activity at work and in leisure-time during week days among Danish office employees. Methods: We included control participants (n = 135) from the Take a Stand! Intervention; a cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in 19 offices. Sitting time and physical activity were measured using an ActiGraph GT3X+ fixed on the thigh and data were processed using Acti4 software. Variability was examined for sitting time, standing time, steps and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day by multilevel mixed linear regression modelling. Results: Results of this study showed that the number of days needed to obtain a reliability of 80% when measuring sitting time was 4.7 days for work and 5.5 days for leisure time. For physical activity at work, 4.0 days and 4.2 days were required to measure steps and MVPA, respectively. During leisure time, more monitoring time was needed to reliably estimate physical activity (6.8 days for steps and 5.8 days for MVPA). Conclusions: The number of measurement days needed to reliably estimate activity patterns was greater for leisure time than for work time. The domain specific variability is of great importance to researchers and health promotion workers planning to use objective measures of sedentary behaviour and physical activity

Blood Pressure Response to Interrupting Workplace Sitting Time With Non-Exercise Physical Activity: Results of a 12-Month Cohort Study

Objective: To evaluate the blood pressure (BP) effects of a yearlong e-health solution designed to interrupt prolonged occupational sitting time. Methods: BP data of 228 desk-based employees (45.1 ± 10.5 years) were analyzed at baseline, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Results: Systolic BP significantly reduced from baseline for the first 9 months (1.0 to 3.4 mmHg; P P P Conclusions: An e-health solution designed to increase non-exercise physical activity by interrupting sitting time in the workplace is feasible and produced long-term reductions in blood pressure