Interventions Designed to Support Physical Activity and Disease Prevention for Working from Home: A Scoping Review

Melanie Crane; Alec Cobbold; Matthew Beck; Tracy Nau; Christopher Standen; Chris Rissel; Ben J Smith; Stephen Greaves; William Bellew; Adrian Bauman

doi:10.3390/ijerph20010073

Interventions Designed to Support Physical Activity and Disease Prevention for Working from Home: A Scoping Review

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 21;20(1):73. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010073.

Authors

Melanie Crane¹, Alec Cobbold¹, Matthew Beck², Tracy Nau¹, Christopher Standen^{3

4}, Chris Rissel^{1

5}, Ben J Smith^{1

6}, Stephen Greaves², William Bellew¹, Adrian Bauman¹

Affiliations

¹ Prevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, The Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
² Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Darlington, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
³ Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁴ Health Equity Research and Development Unit, Sydney Local Health District, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁵ College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Sturt Rd, Adelaide, SA 5024, Australia.
⁶ Western Sydney Local Health District, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia.

Abstract

Working from home (WfH) has public health implications including changes to physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB). We reviewed published and grey literature for interventions designed to support PA or reduce SB in WfH contexts. From 1355 published and grey literature documents since 2010, we screened 136 eligible documents and extracted ten intervention studies. Interventions designed specifically for WfH were limited and included structured exercise programs, infrastructure (e.g., sit-stand workstations), online behavioral and educational programs, health professional advice and peer support, activity trackers and reminder prompts. Evidence of interventions to improve PA and reduce SB in WfH contexts is emergent but lacking in variety and in utilization of local environments to promote good health. Evidence is needed on the adaptation of existing workplace interventions for home environments and exploration of opportunities to support PA through alternative interventions, such as urban planning and recreational strategies.

Keywords: COVID-19; built environments; chronic diseases; health policy; physical activity; prevention; review; sedentary behavior; teleworking; working from home; workplace health promotion.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Exercise*
Public Health
Workplace*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre through the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) partnership centre grant scheme (Grant ID: GNT9100001).