Workplace sitting

A sedentary lifestyle is known to have negative effects on our health (Hendriksen et al., 2013; Health Council of the Netherlands, 2017). A study by Jans, Proper & Hildebrandt (2007) showed that workplace-sitting accounts for a big proportion our sedentary time; therefore, it is relevant to explore how to reduce sitting time at work. A workplace-based intervention by Healy et al. (2013) showed that a comprehensive approach, including environmental, individual and organizational components is an effective way to reduce workplace sitting. Missing within the design by Healy et al. (2013) is the possibility to identify which component is most effective in the reduction of sitting behavior. Therefore, the aim of this research is to evaluate the three different single intervention components on total sitting time among office workers and to identify the single component that yields the greatest effect in reducing sitting in the workplace.

Firstly, it is expected that workers who get a single component intervention will sit less at the workplace compared to workers in the control condition (H1). In addition, we expect there will be differences between the three intervention conditions. We expect an environmental intervention to yield a greater effect in reducing workplace sitting time compared to an individual or organizational intervention (H2). Finally, we expect an individual intervention to yield a greater effect in reducing workplace sitting time then an organizational intervention (H3).

Baseline, 4-week follow-up

For the intervention participants will be assigned to any of the four conditions (Environmental, Individual, Organizational or Control) depending on the floor on which they work. Based on the condition participants will be given different instructions.

Environmental: This type of intervention will focus on enriching the environment by adding more dynamic workstations around the workplace. Depending on the need assessment this can include sit/stand workstations, desk bikes, agronomic stools or any other form of environmental intervention.

Individual: This type of intervention will focus on individual strategies to make employees sit less at the workplace. Depending on the need assessment this can include monitoring of sitting behavior, goal setting techniques, or implementation intentions.

Organizational: This type of intervention will focus on organizational strategies to make employees sit less at the workplace. Depending on the need assessment this can include using WorkPace (stretch-break software) to take regular breaks from sitting. Another example of an organizational intervention is a department wide workshop providing information on the health consequences of sitting too much.

Control/no-intervention: Participants will be asked to maintain their usual work practices.