What works to reduce sedentary behavior in the office, and could these intervention components transfer to the home working environment?: A rapid review and transferability appraisal

Abstract

BackgroundWorking patterns have changed dramatically due to COVID-19, with many workers now spending at least a portion of their working week at home. The office environment was already associated with high levels of sedentary behavior, and there is emerging evidence that working at home further elevates these levels. The aim of this rapid review (PROSPERO CRD42021278539) was to build on existing evidence to identify what works to reduce sedentary behavior in an office environment, and consider whether these could be transferable to support those working at home.MethodsThe results of a systematic search of databases CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, CINHAL, and SportDiscus from 10 August 2017 to 6 September 2021 were added to the references included in a 2018 Cochrane review of office based sedentary interventions. These references were screened and controlled peer-reviewed English language studies demonstrating a beneficial direction of effect for office-based interventions on sedentary behavior outcomes in healthy adults were included. For each study, two of five authors screened the title and abstract, the full-texts, undertook data extraction, and assessed risk of bias on the included studies. Informed by the Behavior Change Wheel, the most commonly used intervention functions and behavior change techniques were identified from the extracted data. Finally, a sample of common intervention strategies were evaluated by the researchers and stakeholders for potential transferability to the working at home environment.ResultsTwenty-two studies including 29 interventions showing a beneficial direction of effect on sedentary outcomes were included. The most commonly used intervention functions were training (n = 21), environmental restructuring (n = 21), education (n = 15), and enablement (n = 15). Within these the commonly used behavior change techniques were instructions on how to perform the behavior (n = 21), adding objects to the environment (n = 20), and restructuring the physical environment (n = 19). Those strategies with the most promise for transferring to the home environment included education materials, use of role models, incentives, and prompts.ConclusionsThis review has characterized interventions that show a beneficial direction of effect to reduce office sedentary behavior, and identified promising strategies to support workers in the home environment as the world adapts to a new working landscape.Systematic Review Registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021278539, identifier CRD42021278539.

Criteria and Guidelines for Human-Centered Work Design in a Digitally Transformed World of Work: Findings from a Formal Consensus Process

“…This reflects, for instance, the discussion about an increasing information overload due to the spread of digital ICT [ 112 , 113 ]. The demand for a holistic work design, in which more than residual activities remain with the employees, is also gaining new momentum, sometimes having different effects on different groups of employees [ 114 ], while the risk of physical inactivity at work, which has been observed for some time, is being considered in new work environments [ 115 , 116 ].…”

Co-Design of a Voice-Based Digital Health Solution to Monitor Persisting Symptoms Related to COVID-19 (UpcomingVoice Study): Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

“…To study the transferability potential of the digital health solution that will be developed, we will provide an extensive description of our study population and their daily life concerns to identify other populations, diseases, or conditions with similar characteristics (in terms of impact on quality of life, main symptoms, and intensity of symptoms) that could also benefit from a voice-based technology. Subsequently, we will use the APEASE (Affordability, Practicability, Effectiveness, Acceptability, Side Effects, and Equity) criteria and other relevant checklists previously described for the evaluation of transferability of health technology assessments [ 24 , 25 ] to assess the potential transferability of each use case or the main characteristics of the solution identified in the 2 phases of the study to the other fields.…”

Understanding for whom, under which circumstances and how sedentary behavior interventions for older adults work: A Realist Review

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