Effectiveness of a multi-component digital intervention to reduce sitting time in the home-office

Background

Office workers spend up to 66% of their day sitting. There has been a drastic increase in home-office working, which has been shown to further increase sitting time compared to the office environment. This study examined the effects of the Click2Move intervention on sedentary and physical activity behaviours across work and non-work contexts in a hybrid working population.

Methods

A RCT was performed to study the effectiveness of the evidence- and theoretically informed intervention. This Click2move intervention included a wrist-worn device, phone application, educational material and organisational support and was delivered for 12 months. Primary outcome was occupational sedentary time, with physical activity behaviours as secondary outcomes and were measured using the activPAL3TM at baseline, three, six and 12 months. Differences between groups in the change from baseline to 3-, 6-, and 12-months were estimated by fitting a linear mixed-effects model. Time, group, and their interaction were included as fixed effects, age, gender, and country included as covariates, and participant and company as random effects.

Results

The analysis showed significant differences between intervention and control groups for sedentary bouts of 30-60 minutes between baseline and three months (Intervention = +11 minutes vs. Control = -7 minutes). No significant differences for any of the physical activity behaviours across all measured days were identified.

Conclusions

Overall, the findings highlight that the Click2Move multi-component intervention did not positively impact the sedentary or physical activity behaviours of hybrid workers. While some time-by-group interactions were identified for specific sedentary outcomes initially, these were not maintained after adjustment for multiple comparisons. A process evaluation may be worthwhile to explain why the intervention did not translate into meaningful change.

Key messages

• A multi-component digital intervention did not positively impact the sedentary or physical activity behaviours of hybrid workers.

• A process evaluation is worthwhile to explain why the intervention did not translate into meaningful change.