What it takes to reduce sitting at work: a pilot study on the effectiveness and correlates of a multicomponent intervention

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to assess the feasibility and effects of a simple-to-implement multicomponent intervention to reduce sedentary time of office workers.

Methods: Six groups of eight to ten office workers took part in the two-week Leicht Bewegt intervention. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline (T0, n = 52), after 2 weeks (T1, n = 46), and after 5 weeks (T2, n = 38), including subjective sedentary measures and social-cognitive variables based on the health action process approach (HAPA). Objective sedentary measures were obtained using activPAL trackers.

Results: The intention to reduce sedentary behavior during work increased significantly from T0 to T1. Participants' objective and subjective sitting time decreased significantly from T0 to T1, corresponding to an average decrease per 8-h-workday of 55 min (d = - .66) or 74 min (d = - 1.14), respectively. This reduction persisted (for subjective sitting time) at T2 (d = - 1.08). Participants indicated a high satisfaction with the intervention.

Conclusions: The Leicht Bewegt intervention offers a feasible and effective opportunity to reduce sedentary behavior at work. Randomized controlled trials including longer follow-up time periods are needed to validate its benefits in different workplaces.

Keywords: Health action process approach; Health behavior change; Multicomponent intervention; Occupational health; Sedentary behavior; Workplace intervention.