Increasing Physical Activity and Decreasing Sedentary Behavior in the Workplace: A Systematic Review
Abstract
Background: Within the United States alone, Healthy People 2020 objectives indicate that less than half of adults in the United States (43.5%) meet the minimum recommendation of 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity. By addressing physical inactivity in the work place through worksite programs there is the potential to increase overall physical activity, thus helping employees reach the recommended 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity. Methods: Medline (Ovid), PubMed (NLM), PsychInfo (Ovid), and CINAHL (Ebsco) were searched with the assistance of a health science librarian experienced in developing search strategies for systematic reviews. Concepts that made up the search include: health promotion, worksite, exercise/physical activity, sedentary behavior and physical inactivity. Results: A total of 1,569 unique articles were found in the initial search. Of those, 121 were deemed eligible for full text review, of which 28 met the eligibility criteria. Fifteen studies solely focused on increasing aerobic physical activity, one study focused on decreasing sedentary behavior and 12 studies focused on both increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior). The most common outcomes reported were: increasing steps per day, decreasing minutes sitting per day, increasing number of sit-to-stand transitions per day, increasing occupational physical activity and increasing stairs climbed. Discussion: This systematic review examined the effect of worksite-based interventions on increasing aerobic physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior among U.S. adults. In addition, this review identified the use of behavior change strategies and behavioral sciences theories and the results of each approach. While this review did not address sustainability and policy, it was observed that very few studies focused on the implications of their findings for sustainability after the intervention. Across all studies, this review found evidence that interventions can be successful at increasing worksite physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior as indicated by measurement assessments.
Subject Area
Public Health Education|Public health|Health education
Recommended Citation
Gray, Kinsey, "Increasing Physical Activity and Decreasing Sedentary Behavior in the Workplace: A Systematic Review" (2017). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI10272160.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI10272160