Diffusing a sedentary behavior intervention through supervisors.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Wipfli B
• Description:
  The Active Workplace Study is a six-month intervention that targets sedentary behavior in the workplace by providing active workstations to employees, along with environmental, organizational, and individual level support. The effectiveness of the intervention is currently being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. During this study of intervention effectiveness, we are simultaneously conducting secondary studies of alternative intervention approaches. The alternative approaches are designed to reduce organizational and researcher time and effort required to implement the intervention, while still providing a similar intervention dose. If the effectiveness of these alternative models is similar to that of the full intervention it would represent a higher return on investment for an organization, and therefore may be more feasible for dissemination. One alternative intervention model we are implementing is focused on the role of supervisors in sedentary workplaces. This model of intervention delivery is based on diffusion of innovations theory, which describes how the flow of information about a new idea within a social environment influences the adoption of the new product or service. A key component of the theory is that opinion leaders, such as supervisors in a workplace setting, play a pivotal role in diffusing an innovation within a social system (Rogers, 2003). Evidence suggests that training supervisors in safety and family-supportive behaviors improves employee safety, health, and well-being (e.g. Hammer et al., 2015; Hammer et al, 2019; Kelly et al., 2014). Modeling has been shown to be important for safety related behaviors (Olson et al., 2009). As key influencers and role models in the workplace, supervisors may be important targets for workplace sedentary behavior interventions that involve new environmental components like sit-stand desks and active workstations. In the spring of 2019, we will enroll supervisors and employees from a sedentary worksite to participate in the supervisor-oriented model of the Active Workplace Study. The intervention will span three months. Everyone at the worksite will have access to Desk Cycle pedal stands, which are active workstations that allows workers to engage in light physical activity while working. Supervisors will complete four computer-based trainings. Training will focus on the importance of supervisor support and role-modeling, the impact of sedentary behavior at work, what supervisors can do to make their workplace less sedentary, ergonomics and injury, and stress management. After each training supervisors will set goals and self-monitor a behavior related to the training topic. Once a month, supervisors will also lead a scripted health and safety discussion with employees that is aligned with that month's training topic. Employees will have access to pedal stands but will not participate in any intervention activities other than the group discussions that are led by supervisors. Supervisors and employees will complete assessments at baseline and after the threemonth intervention. Assessments will include a survey with health, safety, psychosocial, and behavioral measures, and employee ratings of supervisor support. Supervisors and employees will wear ActiGraph accelerometers for one week at each assessment period to measure sitting time, standing time, and physical activity at work. During the intervention we will measure pedal stand use by attaching Fitbits to each pedal stand. Statistical analyses will evaluate the effectiveness of the supervisor-oriented model of the intervention on both supervisor and employee outcomes. We will also compare results from this study to results from the primary intervention. We hypothesize that the supervisor-oriented intervention will produce similar but slightly smaller improvements in health, safety, and well-being, and reduce workplace sedentary behavior in comparison to the full intervention. We also hypothesize that employee ratings of supervisor support will moderate the effects of the intervention on employee-level outcomes. Results from this study will inform dissemination methods of the Active Workplace Study and workplace intervention research to practice in general. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Promotion Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  TWH; Total Worker Health; Sedentary lifestyle; Health promotion; Intervention effectiveness; Supervisory personnel; Physical exercise
• Publisher:
  American Psychological Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065749
• Citation:
  Work, Stress and Health 2019, November 6-9, 2019, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2019 Nov; :310
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• NORA Priority Area:
  Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities ; Services
• Performing Organization:
  Oregon Health & Science University, Portland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20110901
• Source Full Name:
  Work, Stress and Health 2019, November 6-9, 2019, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:09ef7ff465dca68dd954c60028e45481e57f5b1d093354bcdeced6c79403cfc4780505dff60ef6592e2cbfb93b77d6cbaac070521cfdcc4693cb4581759b0044
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/248864/cdc_248864_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 103.68 KB ]