Office Worker Behavior and Health Study

A sedentary lifestyle has been deemed deleterious to health. It contributes to many chronic diseases and illnesses as well as an increase in all-cause mortality. The objective of this study is to investigate if electronic prompted interruptions in sitting time can reduce sedentary behavior at work as well as have an effect on job satisfaction, and musculoskeletal complaints. The participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups, intervention (n=31) and control (n=31). Informed consent, demographic and socioeconomic data will be obtained from each participant. A questionnaire that includes three different scales will be administered before and after the 12-week intervention to all participants: Occupational Sitting and Physical Activity Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction Index, and Nordic Musculoskeletal Symptoms. Also, physical data will be measured: BMI, percent body fat and waist circumference. All participants will be provided with the Amazfit BIP device to track steps during work hours. The intervention group will receive a prompt every hour during their workday via an iOS application, Stand-Up, through the Amazfit BIP device. The prompt is to interrupt sitting time and encourage two-minutes of physical activity. The intervention group will receive examples of physical activity in addition to educational material on the health benefits of increasing physical activity in the workplace via verbal instruction and written materials. Data analysis will be conducted to determine if there is a difference in sitting time between the two groups over time using repeated-measures ANOVA. Independent samples t-tests will be used to compare job satisfaction and the physical biomarkers for obesity among the intervention and control groups. Chi-square will be used to analyze the reported musculoskeletal complaints between the two groups. If necessary, all analyses will be controlled for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.