Light Intensity Activity in the Office-based Workplace: A Review of Supportive Strategies

Language
en
Document Type
Master Thesis
Issue Date
2017-04-06
Issue Year
2017
Authors
Goodwin, Lee
Editor
Abstract

The term ‘sedentary behavior’ (SB), meaning ‘to sit’, refers to low level energy output. Levels of SB are defined by the term ‘resting metabolic rate’, also known as ‘MET’, constituting low energy expenditure classified at a range of 1.0 - 1.5 METs. Research has associated SB with chronic disease and premature death in adults. Such outcomes are due to the disruption and strain that SB places on metabolic functions within the body. Moreover, research indicates that SB can have a negative impact on health, regardless of one’s adherence to recommendations based on moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA).

The domain of occupation, specifically the office-based workplace, is a dominant arena where lengthy bouts of SB are accumulated in adults, and should therefore be prioritized for change. Light intensity activity (LIA)—classified at an energy expenditure range of 1.6 - 2.9 METs—refers to both standing and movement, and has been proven to produce counteracting metabolic functions to that of SB. Thus, LIA can be seen as a long-term solution to combat the ills of office-based SB for the prevention of disease and mortality.

As of 2015, the first ever recommendations to reduce SB in the office-based workplace were put forward. The recommendations stress the incorporation of 2 - 4 hours of LIA daily while at work (halved for part time employees) (Buckley et al., 2015). Strategies that explicitly center themselves on LIA in the office-based workplace are urgently needed for the achievement and maintenance of the newly proposed recommendations in the office setting, to reduce chronic disease in office-based workers.

To investigate the full extent to which the proposed recommendations could be realistically fulfilled in office-based settings, a comprehensive review of strategies conducive to LIA in the office-based workplace was undergone primarily within the continent Australia. The reasoning behind focus on Australia was based on the leading presence taken by the continent in the combat of office-based SB. It was predicted that a large array of strategies existed within Australia that were simply placed under the radar. Bringing Australian derived strategies to the surface was a desirable starting point for the optimization of work related to the achievement of recommendations pertaining to LIA in the office setting.

To obtain results effectively, a systematic mapping review was chosen as a step-by-step approach to identify and extract strategies primarily originating from Australia. With focus placed on the identification of both black and grey literature for final inclusion, an all-encompassing search plan considered the following components for retrieval: PubMed search engine, custom Google search engine, targeted web-based searches. Identified material was placed through a rigorous screening process, resulting in a total of 51 documents chosen for final inclusion. Final included documents were checked thoroughly for strategies pertaining to LIA in the office-based workplace, and relevant data was extracted and filed. The obtained data underwent an in-depth sorting process, resulting in a final table containing a hierarchically ranked list of 148 strategies, ordered from most prevalent within the literature to least prevalent within the literature. Through the utilization of newly developed criteria grounded on an ecological approach, each separate strategy was categorized into one specific level of workplace operation: individual, social, environmental, organizational, policy. Once categorization was complete, strategies on multiple levels of workplace operation were then characterized under set intervention functions or policy categories, derived through a well-established intervention framework known as ‘The Behaviour Change Wheel’ by Michie, Stralen, and West (2011). Completion of the aforementioned functions resulted in the creation of a dynamic inventory of strategies pertaining to LIA in the office-based workplace.

Through in-depth analysis of the inventory, major findings revealed that strategies on an individual level were most prevalent within Australian based literature (n = 71). Organizational level strategies were second most prevalent in the inventory (n = 46), with the environmental level (n = 15), policy level (n = 11), and social level (n = 5) proving to be less emphatic. Though individual level strategies were dominant singularly within the literature, duplicate strategy identification and strategy clustering found the organizational level to dominate the 10 highest ranked strategies within the inventory. Interestingly, strategies on multiple levels of workplace operation demonstrated interlinking relationships with one another. A range of strategies on multiple levels were seen to encompass the exact same elements as one another, and could hence be undertaken without dependence on other levels. However, the inventory stressed strategy implementation on the organizational level to be an integral starting point for the enablement of similarly comparable strategies seen on other levels of workplace operation. Furthermore, a range of strategies on multiple levels were at times seen to be solely dependent on the organizational level to unlock potential barriers toward effective strategy occurrence. Through organizational advocacy and support, office-based employees will have the best chance of sustainably achieving the newly proposed recommendations pertaining to LIA through a variety of strategies.

In relation to intervention functions, forefront organizational level responsibility was justified based on strategies that focused primarily on ‘enablement’, ‘persuasion’, ‘modelling’, ‘education’, and ‘environmental restructuring’. Policy categories however, were barely existent within the inventory, presenting a large gap that may hinder the quality of interventions directed toward the achievement of recommendations pertaining to LIA. Further, with the addition of a brand-new model designed to complement the derived inventory, organizations and researchers alike can utilize the study’s findings as a dynamic tool box to tailor strategies and interventions to unique office-based situations.

The results provide compelling evidence on Australia’s dominance and innovation related to strategies pertaining to LIA in the office-based workplace. The current study has laid the essential groundwork for the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of interventions specific to LIA in the office-based setting. This in turn can ensure that recommendations are successfully achieved in practice. By achieving and sustaining recommendations pertaining to LIA in the office-based workplace, office workers across the globe can decrease their risk of chronic disease and improve their health.

Keywords: Sedentary behavior, light intensity activity, office-based workplace, recommendations, levels of workplace operation, intervention functions, inventory

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