Clinical trial NCT02645071: Brief Program in Reducing Sedentary Behavior and Promoting Physical Exercise
Official title: FAMILY Project: Brief Program in Reducing Sedentary Behavior and Promoting Physical Exercise
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Physical Activity
Keywords: physical activity
family well being,
health
Lead sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
First posted: 2016-01-01
Enrollment: 141
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 100
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Lack of physical activity was found to be a local and worldwide issue. Most Hong Kong people are having sedentary lifestyle. Researchers show that the increase of physical activity reduces the risk of chronic diseases, and improve cardio-pulmonary functions; whereas sedentary behaviors increase the risks.

For many people, the targets of the WHO physical activity guidelines are too high to be achieved. Some people are not even willing to try, despite the evidence for the protective benefits to their long term health. In response, a recent focus has been placed upon reduction of sedentary behavior. Sedentary behavior is defined as 'those activities that do not increase energy expenditure substantially above the resting level, such as sitting, lying down, or viewing TV, or simply as "too much sitting". The primary determinants of sedentary behavior are behavioral and context-based, such as TV and screen-focused behaviors in home and work environments, sitting at work, and sitting during transport. The public health leaders have called for reducing the time spent in sedentary behaviors as a possible public health priority. This study will focus on reduction of sedentary behavior and increasing physical activity in daily life. We hypothesize that the training programs would promote the health awareness of the participants.

Detailed description: Physical activity is believed to contribute to physical and mental health, as well as social well-being. World Health organization (WHO) proposed that tobacco use, alcohol abuse, poor diets and physical inactivity are the common risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCD) (WHO, 2014). The health benefits of regular physical activity (PA) are well established, including positive associations with psychological well-being and an inverse relationship with various illnesses.

Lack of physical activity was found to be a local and worldwide issue and most Hong Kong people are having a sedentary lifestyle. Studies show that the increase of physical activity reduces the risk of chronic diseases, and improve cardio-pulmonary functions; whereas sedentary behaviors increase the risks. In response, a recent focus has been placed upon reduction of sedentary behavior. The primary determinants of sedentary behavior are behavioral and context-based, such as TV and screen-focused behaviors in home and work environments, sitting at work, and sitting during transport. As a result, public health leaders have called for reducing the time spent in sedentary behaviors as a possible public health priority.

This study will focus on reduction of sedentary behavior and increasing physical activity in daily life. The intervention will promote activities that can be done without using extra time (Zero-time exercise). These exercises will encourage participants to use larger muscle groups than they would simply sitting or standing, but are designed to be done by all ages and all fitness levels. For example, while standing, participants will be encouraged to balance on one leg, which will engage stomach and leg muscles. There is evidence that these types of movements create cardiovascular and skeletal muscle changes.

The intervention is a 15- to 20- minute interactive session program, which aims to reduce participants' sedentary behavior and increase physical activity by increasing their motivation, self-efficacy and knowledge of different types of easy movements (Zero-time exercises). We hypothesize that the training programs would promote the health awareness of the participants.

The primary objective is to promote the health awareness on reducing sedentary behavior and/or increasing physical exercise. The secondary objectives are to enhance intention and confidence of participants to encourage their family members to reduce sedentary and/or increasing physical exercise.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Chinese speaking
* Able to complete the questionnaire
* Aged 18 or above

Exclusion Criteria:

- People with serious health condition that might prevent them from participating in physical activity

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in intention on performing physical activity in relation to reduce sedentary behavior
timeFrame: baseline, immediately following the training session, 2 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in confidence on performing physical activity in relation to reduce sedentary behavior
timeFrame: baseline, immediately following training, 2 weeks
measure: Change in perceived knowledge on performing physical activity in relation to reduce sedentary behavior
timeFrame: baseline, immediately following training, 2 weeks
measure: Change in behaviour on performing physical activity in relation to reduce sedentary behavior
timeFrame: baseline, 2 weeks
measure: Change in participants' own health and happiness
timeFrame: baseline, 2 weeks
measure: Change in participants' family well-being
timeFrame: baseline, 2 weeks
measure: Change in intention to motivate participants' family members to reduce sedatry behvaiour
timeFrame: baseline, immediately following training, 2 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: Department of Health
Study officials:
affiliation: The University of Hong Kong
name: Agnes YK LAI, DN
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
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citation: Torbeyns T, Bailey S, Bos I, Meeusen R. Active workstations to fight sedentary behaviour. Sports Med. 2014 Sep;44(9):1261-73. doi: 10.1007/s40279-014-0202-x.