Movement behavior and mental health in office workers : Associations and intervention effects

Mental disorders pose a significant global health challenge. To effectively address this challenge, mental health promotion must be included in various sectors, including workplaces. Various strategies for promoting mental health in the workplace have been suggested, including interventions aimed at improving movement behavior, i.e., sitting less and moving more. Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SED) are established determinants of mental health. However, there are aspects of the relationship between movement behavior and mental health that are not well understood, for example, the combined effects of all movement behaviors occurring throughout the daily 24-hour cycle, i.e., time in bed, SED, light-intensity physical activity, and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), on mental health. In addition, only a few well-designed workplace interventions for improving movement and mental health outcomes have been tested. Office workers often spend extensive amounts of time being sedentary and might particularly benefit from such interventions. The aims of this thesis were (1) to investigate cross-sectional associations between 24-hour movement behavior and mental health among office workers and (2) to evaluate the efficacy, acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of two cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) interventions for improving movement behavior and mental health using quantitative and qualitative methods. In Paper I, we investigated cross-sectional associations between 24-hour movement behavior and mental health outcomes (symptoms of depression and anxiety, burnout, mental wellbeing, and stress) among office workers (N=345-370). Movement behavior was measured using accelerometers and sleep diaries. Mental health outcomes were assessed using validated questionnaires. Only the proportion of time spent in MVPA, relative to all other behaviors, was positively associated with mental wellbeing.  Papers II-IV were based on a three-armed cluster RCT among office workers (N=263). During the 6-month intervention period, the iSED intervention group focused on reducing SED, and the iPA intervention group focused on increasing MVPA compared to a wait-list control group. The multi-level interventions were designed based on ecological models of health behavior, addressing the individual office workers as well as their physical, social, and organizational work environment. Paper II investigated intervention effects on accelerometer-measured 24-hour movement behavior and cardiorespiratory fitness. We considered overall 24-hour movement behavior and movement behavior during work versus non-work time. No intervention effects were found. Paper III was based on a qualitative study that was embedded in the RCT. It investigated the acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of intervention components that addressed the individual, environmental and organizational level. Interviews and focus group discussions were performed with 38 key stakeholders after the 6-month intervention period. The study included office workers who received the interventions, health coaches who delivered counseling sessions, team leaders who were responsible for implementing group activities, and human resource and higher management staff who provided support at the organizational level. In general, the interventions were well appreciated, and components seemed to work as intended when delivered as intended. Many office workers experienced improvements in movement behavior and wellbeing and ascribed those to the interventions. Acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of individual-level components were high but reduced for components depending on team leaders, mainly due to challenges associated with recruiting managers as team leaders and forming teams. Manager and team support were considered crucial for promoting more PA and less SED, yet many participants reported a lack of such support. Thus, identified challenges with these components might have reduced overall intervention efficacy. Paper IV investigated intervention effects on mental health outcomes (symptoms of depression or anxiety, mental wellbeing, and stress). In addition, we explored whether changes in mean PA intensity mediated or moderated intervention effects. The interventions improved mental wellbeing for the combined intervention groups and the iSED group but not for the iPA group compared to the control group. The interventions improved mean PA intensity, but mean PA intensity did not mediate intervention effects on any outcome. Mean PA intensity moderated intervention effects on mental wellbeing. Participants who reduced mean PA intensity reduced mental wellbeing compared to participants who did not change mean PA intensity. This highlights the importance of maintaining high levels of PA for mental wellbeing. This thesis contributes to existing knowledge by applying a rigorous investigation of cross-sectional associations between 24-h movement behavior and mental health among office workers and by conducting a comprehensive analysis of intervention effects. It offers valuable insights and considerations that may inform occupational health practitioners, employers, policy makers, and researchers and may contribute to developing future effective interventions

Movement behavior and mental health in office workers : Associations and intervention effects

Mental disorders pose a significant global health challenge. To effectively address this challenge, mental health promotion must be included in various sectors, including workplaces. Various strategies for promoting mental health in the workplace have been suggested, including interventions aimed at improving movement behavior, i.e., sitting less and moving more. Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SED) are established determinants of mental health. However, there are aspects of the relationship between movement behavior and mental health that are not well understood, for example, the combined effects of all movement behaviors occurring throughout the daily 24-hour cycle, i.e., time in bed, SED, light-intensity physical activity, and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), on mental health. In addition, only a few well-designed workplace interventions for improving movement and mental health outcomes have been tested. Office workers often spend extensive amounts of time being sedentary and might particularly benefit from such interventions. The aims of this thesis were (1) to investigate cross-sectional associations between 24-hour movement behavior and mental health among office workers and (2) to evaluate the efficacy, acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of two cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) interventions for improving movement behavior and mental health using quantitative and qualitative methods. In Paper I, we investigated cross-sectional associations between 24-hour movement behavior and mental health outcomes (symptoms of depression and anxiety, burnout, mental wellbeing, and stress) among office workers (N=345-370). Movement behavior was measured using accelerometers and sleep diaries. Mental health outcomes were assessed using validated questionnaires. Only the proportion of time spent in MVPA, relative to all other behaviors, was positively associated with mental wellbeing.  Papers II-IV were based on a three-armed cluster RCT among office workers (N=263). During the 6-month intervention period, the iSED intervention group focused on reducing SED, and the iPA intervention group focused on increasing MVPA compared to a wait-list control group. The multi-level interventions were designed based on ecological models of health behavior, addressing the individual office workers as well as their physical, social, and organizational work environment. Paper II investigated intervention effects on accelerometer-measured 24-hour movement behavior and cardiorespiratory fitness. We considered overall 24-hour movement behavior and movement behavior during work versus non-work time. No intervention effects were found. Paper III was based on a qualitative study that was embedded in the RCT. It investigated the acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of intervention components that addressed the individual, environmental and organizational level. Interviews and focus group discussions were performed with 38 key stakeholders after the 6-month intervention period. The study included office workers who received the interventions, health coaches who delivered counseling sessions, team leaders who were responsible for implementing group activities, and human resource and higher management staff who provided support at the organizational level. In general, the interventions were well appreciated, and components seemed to work as intended when delivered as intended. Many office workers experienced improvements in movement behavior and wellbeing and ascribed those to the interventions. Acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of individual-level components were high but reduced for components depending on team leaders, mainly due to challenges associated with recruiting managers as team leaders and forming teams. Manager and team support were considered crucial for promoting more PA and less SED, yet many participants reported a lack of such support. Thus, identified challenges with these components might have reduced overall intervention efficacy. Paper IV investigated intervention effects on mental health outcomes (symptoms of depression or anxiety, mental wellbeing, and stress). In addition, we explored whether changes in mean PA intensity mediated or moderated intervention effects. The interventions improved mental wellbeing for the combined intervention groups and the iSED group but not for the iPA group compared to the control group. The interventions improved mean PA intensity, but mean PA intensity did not mediate intervention effects on any outcome. Mean PA intensity moderated intervention effects on mental wellbeing. Participants who reduced mean PA intensity reduced mental wellbeing compared to participants who did not change mean PA intensity. This highlights the importance of maintaining high levels of PA for mental wellbeing. This thesis contributes to existing knowledge by applying a rigorous investigation of cross-sectional associations between 24-h movement behavior and mental health among office workers and by conducting a comprehensive analysis of intervention effects. It offers valuable insights and considerations that may inform occupational health practitioners, employers, policy makers, and researchers and may contribute to developing future effective interventions

Associations between 24 h Movement Behavior and Mental Health in Office Workers

The associations between 24 h movement behavior, i.e., the way people distribute their time in different movement-related behaviors, on mental health are not well understood. This study applied a compositional data analysis approach to explore cross-sectional associations between device-measured moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light intensity physical activity (LIPA), sedentary behavior (SED), self-reported time in bed and mental health outcomes, i.e., depression or anxiety symptoms, burnout, mental wellbeing and stress, in office workers. ActiGraph accelerometers were worn for 24 h for at least 4 days to assess MVPA, LIPA, and SED. Sleep diaries were used in addition to identify time in bed. Analytic sample sizes for the different outcomes ranged from N = 345–370 participants. In this population of office workers with high levels of MVPA, the entire movement behavior composition was not associated to any of the mental health outcomes, but MVPA relative to all other behaviors was positively associated with mental wellbeing. This confirms the importance of MVPA for health relative to other movement-related behaviors

Calibration and Validation of a Wrist- and Hip-Worn Actigraph Accelerometer in 4-Year-Old Children.

INTRODUCTION:To determine time spent at different physical activity intensities, accelerometers need calibration. The aim of this study was to develop and cross-validate intensity thresholds for the Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer for wrist and hip placement in four-year-old children. METHODS:In total 30 children (49 months, SD 3.7) were recruited from five preschools in Stockholm. Equipped with an accelerometer on the wrist and another on the hip, children performed three indoor activities and one free-play session while being video recorded. Subsequently, physical activity intensity levels were coded every 5th second according to the Children's Activity Rating Scale. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves was used to develop wrist and hip intensity thresholds, the upper threshold for sedentary, and lower threshold for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), for the vertical axis (VA) and for the vector magnitude (VM). A leave-one-out method was used to cross-validate the thresholds. RESULTS:Intensity thresholds for wrist placement were ≤ 178 (VA) and ≤ 328 (VM) for sedentary and ≥ 871 (VA) and ≥ 1393 (VM) counts/5 seconds for MVPA. The corresponding thresholds for hip placement were ≤ 43 (VA) and ≤ 105 (VM) for sedentary and ≥ 290 (VA) and ≥ 512 (VM) for MVPA. The quadratic weighted Kappa was 0.92 (95% CI 0.91-0.93) (VA) and 0.95 (95% CI 0.94-0.96) (VM) for the wrist-worn accelerometer and 0.76 (98% CI 0.74-0.77) and 0.86 (95% CI 0.85-0.87) for the hip-worn. CONCLUSION:Using wrist placement and the VM when measuring physical activity with accelerometry in 4-year-old children is recommended

“It depends on the boss” – a qualitative study of multi-level interventions aiming at office workers’ movement behaviour and mental health

Purpose This embedded qualitative study explored the acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of two multi-level RCT interventions among office workers, aiming at improving movement behaviour to enhance mental health and cognition. The interventions addressed the organizational, environmental, and individual level. Methods Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 38 stakeholders after completion of the interventions. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results The interventions were well appreciated, and office workers attributed improvements in movement behaviour and wellbeing to the interventions. Especially the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based counselling and free gym access were appreciated, feasible and delivered as planned. Participants described existing workplace norms as barriers to more activity, particularly for reducing sitting. Support from managers and team support were considered crucial components. However, delivering these components was difficult. Conclusions The findings support the design of the multi-level interventions for changing movement behaviour. Results highlight the potential of CBT for this target group and the importance of manager and team support. Desired effects of similar multi-level interventions, including CBT, might be achieved in future studies that carefully address the issues with feasibility and acceptability and the resulting low fidelity of some intervention components that were identified in this study

Sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC) and intensity threshold counts per 5 seconds for wrist and hip.

<p>Sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC) and intensity threshold counts per 5 seconds for wrist and hip.</p

Mean (SD) counts per 5 seconds for wrist and hip by activity (n = 30).

<p>Mean (SD) counts per 5 seconds for wrist and hip by activity (n = 30).</p

Associations between 24 h Movement Behavior and Mental Health in Office Workers.

The associations between 24 h movement behavior, i.e., the way people distribute their time in different movement-related behaviors, on mental health are not well understood. This study applied a compositional data analysis approach to explore cross-sectional associations between device-measured moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light intensity physical activity (LIPA), sedentary behavior (SED), self-reported time in bed and mental health outcomes, i.e., depression or anxiety symptoms, burnout, mental wellbeing and stress, in office workers. ActiGraph accelerometers were worn for 24 h for at least 4 days to assess MVPA, LIPA, and SED. Sleep diaries were used in addition to identify time in bed. Analytic sample sizes for the different outcomes ranged from N = 345-370 participants. In this population of office workers with high levels of MVPA, the entire movement behavior composition was not associated to any of the mental health outcomes, but MVPA relative to all other behaviors was positively associated with mental wellbeing. This confirms the importance of MVPA for health relative to other movement-related behaviors.Fysisk aktivitet och hälsosamma hjärnfunktioner bland kontorsarbetare: Delprojekt 1, Tvärsnittsstudi

Child descriptive characteristics.

<p>n = 30.</p

Mean counts per 5 seconds for wrist and hip by CARS score.

<p>n = 30.</p