Clinical trial NCT02250261: Socio-ecological Intervention to Promote Active Commuting to Work
Official title: Socio-ecological Intervention to Promote Active Commuting to Work
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Active Travel
Keywords: walking
cycling
intervention
physical activity
environment
promotion
Lead sponsor: UKK Institute
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Tampere University of Technology
name: Department of Transport and Streets, City of Tampere
name: Ecofellows Ltd, City of Tampere
name: University of Oxford
name: University of Graz
First posted: 2014-09-26
Enrollment: 1500
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: Background Cycling and walking to work is a natural way of increasing physical activity in a working population. However, the evidence on the effectiveness and cost savings of promoting active work commuting (ACW) is thin. This cluster-randomized, controlled study aims to promote ACW with environmental, social and behavioral strategies in two large workplace areas in Tampere, Finland. The paper de-scribes the protocol, evaluation and baseline findings of the study.

Methods The enrollment of the workplaces took place in 2014-15. In Phase 1, the impacts of environmental strategies (improvements to the walking and cycling trails) were evaluated in Area1 including 11 workplaces. In Phase 2, five more workplaces were recruited from Area2 to evaluate the impacts of social and behavioral strategies accustomed for each workplace. The workplaces in both areas were then randomized into experimental (EXP, n=6+2) and comparison group (COM, n=5+3). EXP promoted ACW with social and behavioral strategies; COM participated in data collection only but will have the same support post-intervention. The primary outcome is the change in employees' self-reported and accelerometer-based ACW. The secondary outcomes include e.g. the changes in employees' self-rated health and subjective wellbeing at work, the change in the number of walkers and cyclists based on the traffic calculations and the change in the quality of walking and cycling trails based on camera auditing (Area1 only). External validity of the intervention is as-sessed with the compliance rates of the workplaces and employees as well as with the fidelity of the environmental, social and behavioral strategies. Health Economic Assessment Tool for Cycling and Walking (HEAT) is used to assess the cost savings of the multilevel intervention. In addition, environmental variables and types that promote ACW and mediate and moderate the effects of environmental strategies are examined.

Results and discussion This study is one of the first in Finland to combine interdisciplinary collaboration between practi-tioners and researchers working in the fields of transportation, urban design, physical activity and sustainable development to promote ACW. The findings benefit all stakeholders interested in pro-moting ACW in urban context. The study will also produce supportive material for promoting ACW at the workplaces.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

All voluntary employees in the workplaces located in the specific area

Exclusion Criteria:

No exclusion criteria

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in self-reported means of transportation to work
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Change in self-reported weekly AWC
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Change in accelerometer-based daily duration of walking and cycling to work
timeFrame: 1 year
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in self-rated health
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Change in subjective well-being at work
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Change in restrictions to ACW
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Change in motivation for ACW
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Change in injuries due to ACW
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Change in the use of the main walking and cycling trail (Area1)
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Change in the quality of the main walking and cycling trail
timeFrame: 1 year
Other outcomes:
measure: Cost-savings
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Cost-effectiveness
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Environmental evaluation
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Environmental evaluation
timeFrame: 1 year
Locations:
city: Tampere
country: Finland
facility: UKK Institute
state: Pirkanmaa
city: Tampere
country: Finland
facility: The UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research
state: Pirkanmaa
Study officials:
affiliation: UKK Institute
name: Minna Aittasalo, D.Sc.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Aittasalo M, Tiilikainen J, Tokola K, Seimelä T, Sarjala S-M, Metsäpuro P, Hynynen A, Suni J, Sievänen H, Vähä-Ypyä H, Vaismaa K, Vakkala O, Foster C, Titze S, Vasankari T. Socio-Ecological Intervention to Promote Active Commuting to Work: Protocol and Baseline Findings of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Finland. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Oct; 14(10): 1257. Published online 2017 Oct 20. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14101257