Effectiveness of a Workplace "Sit Less and Move More" Web-based Program in Spanish Office Employees (Walk@WorkSpain)
Condition: Sedentary Lifestyle; Workplace; Quality of Life; Intervention Study
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study assesses the short and mid-term impacts of a workplace web-based intervention
      (Walk@WorkSpain, W@WS) on self-reported occupational sitting time, step counts,
      activity-related energy expenditure, physical risk factors for chronic disease and
      efficiency-related outcomes in Spanish office employees. Half of participants had access to
      the W@WS website program while the other half was asked to maintain habitual behaviour.
    

Detailed description: 
      Rising numbers of people have to sit for long hours every day especially for work and
      transport (3401184). This sedentary pattern that has been detrimentally associated with
      obesity and cardiovascular disease markers (4604082). However, replacing as little as 10
      minutes of sedentary time with the same amount of light or moderate physical activity is
      associated with substantial health benefits (i.e. reduction of the metabolic syndrome)
      (26635358).

      Because eighty percent of adults in developed countries spend one third of their working day
      doing sedentary, desk-based tasks (24603203) -representing a high exposure to this
      established health risk- displacing occupational sitting with physical activity may be a
      feasible option for improving office employees´ health and therefore public health
      (26984326).

      In this context, there is a need to develop and evaluate translational research, based on
      theoretically-derived strategies, that can be successfully embedded into workplaces
      (26984326).
    

Intervention name(s): A workplace "sit less and move more" web-based program for Spanish office employees; Active Comparison group
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): W@WS encourages office employees to progressively 'sit less and move more' during workdays over 19 weeks. During the first 8 weeks (ramping phase), tips are provided every two weeks to break occupational sitting time through incidental movement during work tasks, introduce short walks (5-10 minutes) during morning/afternoon work breaks and/or commuting time, introduce longer walks at lunchtime and achieve at least 10,000 daily steps as well as increase walking intensity. During weeks 9 to 19, W@WS provides automated guidance with periodic emails encouraging behaviors achieved in the previous phase. Ecological support strategies such as logging daily step counts into a personal account and receiving visual feedback on the achievement of goals are also provided; The Active Comparison group maintained habitual behavior. The A-CG was given a pedometer and a paper diary to register daily step counts and self-reported sitting time throughout the intervention.
Other intervention name(s): Walk@WorkSpain; W@WS; A-CG
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: workplace; sedentary behavior; physical activity; physical risk factors; mental well-being; presenteeism; work productivity; activity-related energy expenditures