Sitstand desks in call centres: Associations of use and ergonomics awareness with sedentary behavior
To investigate whether or not use of sitstand desks and awareness of the importance of postural variation and breaks are associated with the pattern of sedentary behavior in office workers. The data came from a cross-sectional observation study of Swedish call centre workers. Inclinometers recorded seated or standing/walking episodes of 131 operators over a full work shift. Differences in sedentary behavior based on desk type and awareness of the importance of posture variation and breaks were assessed by non-parametric analyses. 90 (68.7%) operators worked at a sitstand desk. Working at a sitstand desk, as opposed to a sit desk, was associated with less time seated (78.5 vs 83.8%, p=0.010), and less time taken to accumulate 5min of standing/walking (36.2 vs 46.3min, p=0.022), but no significant difference to sitting episode length or the number of switches between sitting and standing/walking per hour. Ergonomics awareness was not associated with any sedentary pattern variable among those using a sitstand desk. Use of sitstand desks was associated with better sedentary behavior in call centre workers, however ergonomics awareness did not enhance the effect.
call centres ergonomics awareness sedentary behavior posture occupation