Active Workplace Study

Exposure to sedentary work is an occupational hazard with significant health and safety consequences. Sedentary behavior is an independent predictor of heart disease, diabetes, early mortality, and accounts for the majority of the increase in obesity in the US. Prolonged sitting, common in modern sedentary work environments, contributes to increases in musculoskeletal pain, injuries, and detrimental changes in physiological functioning. Call center employees, who are among the most sedentary workers in the US, area priority population for Total Worker Health interventions. This project is designed to substantially improve health, safety, and well-being in call center employees, including physiological outcomes that contribute to chronic diseases.The study tests whether a Total Worker Health oriented intervention is more effective than usual practices for increasing the utilization of health and safety resources and improving worker health and safety. Study results will have implications for over 30 million sedentary workers in the US.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Sedentary Lifestyle; Occupational Exposure; Health Behavior; Safety Issues
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Total Worker Health; Other: Control

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how a Total Worker Health intervention targeting sedentary behavior among call center employees improves the health, safety, and well-being of sedentary workers. Our primary hypothesis is that a multilevel integrated intervention that follows the Total Worker Health approach will have a stronger impact on primary outcomes (sedentary time and light physical activity at work, musculoskeletal pain, time lost due to injury or illness) compared to a control condition that matches typical worksite practices. To test our hypothesis, we will 1) tailor Total Worker Health intervention components to the call center environment, 2) determine the effects of a 6-month intervention, and 3) measure the durability of intervention effects at 12-month follow-up.

The study will use a randomized control trial design with two conditions: a control condition and a Total Worker Health intervention condition that includes organizational and individual intervention components. Study participants will include employees and supervisors from up to eight call centers. The call centers will be randomly assigned to the two conditions prior to the start of the study. During the study, we will conduct a baseline assessment; implement a six-month intervention; conduct a post-intervention assessment; and conduct a follow-up assessment at twelve months. During each assessment period, study participants in both conditions will complete a survey, physical measures, hemoglobin A1c measurement, and seven days of physical activity data collection with accelerometers. Study participants in both conditions could additionally be asked to complete a measurement for endothelial function during each assessment.

The baseline assessment will occur directly after participant enrollment and consent at each worksite. Both conditions will be given access to portable pedal stands. The intervention condition will have additional environmental alterations including hanging signs throughout the work environment that promote health and safety behaviors; and replacing high calorie and high sugar food and drink options in vending machines and break rooms with fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthier choices.

Participants in the intervention condition will begin intervention activities. Intervention activities that participants could be asked to complete include: computer based training, goal setting and behavioral self-monitoring, scripted team-based health and safety discussions, and team competitions with pedal stands. Supervisor participants could additionally be asked to complete additional computer based training, goal setting and behavioral self-monitoring of supportive behaviors, and inter-supervisor observations. Participants in the control condition will receive no additional support beyond the provision of pedal stands.

Repeated measures will be collected at baseline, six months, and 12 months. Our primary hypotheses are that the intervention condition will produce greater reductions in sedentary behavior, increases in light physical activity, and reductions in musculoskeletal pain and sick day use than the control condition. To test these hypotheses, we will employ an intent-to-treat strategy using generalized estimating equations in order to use all available data to evaluate group differences in the magnitude of change over time in primary outcomes. The effect of interest for each outcome will be the interaction of condition X time. We will statistically control for confounders by measuring a wide range of demographic and psychological variables that could impact study outcomes. We will test for baseline differences between conditions on these variables using one-way ANOVAs (continuous variables) or chi-squares tests (categorical variables). Variables that differ significantly between groups at baseline will be included as covariates in the generalized estimating equation models of intervention effects over time.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 264
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Oregon
    • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97239
      • Oregon Health & Science University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 years of age or older
• Currently working in a participating organization

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control	Other: Control; Usual practice control
Experimental: Total Worker Health Intervention	Behavioral: Total Worker Health; The intervention combines organizational and individual level strategies. Participants will be given access to pedal stands, health and safety messaging, and other environmental modifications. Intervention activities that participants could be asked to complete include: computer based training, goal setting and behavioral self-monitoring, scripted team-based health and safety discussions, and team competitions with pedal stands. Supervisor participants could additionally be asked to complete additional computer based training, goal setting and behavioral self-monitoring of supportive behaviors, and inter-supervisor observations. The intervention is six-months in duration.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sedentary behavior	Sedentary behavior at work measured via accelerometry	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Height	Height	Baseline, 6-months, and 12-months
Body weight	Directly measured body weight	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Percent body fat	Directly measured percent body fat via bioelectric impedence	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Blood pressure	Direct measurement	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Resting heart rate	Direct measurement	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Hemoglobin A1c	Direct measurement with Siemens DCA Vantage Analyzer	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Endothelial functioning	Direct measurement with EndoPat software and hardware	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Depression symptoms	CES-D Short Form Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Job Stress	Stress in General Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Work Family Conflict	Work Family Conflict Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
General Life Stress	Perceived Stress Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Job satisfaction	Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire job satisfaction scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Global Health	PROMIS Global Health Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Support at work	Survey measure of perceived support from supervisors at work	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Dietary behaviors	Frequency of high-calorie food and drink consumption	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Physical Activity survey	Healthy Physical Activity Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Sleep Quality	Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Sleep Distrubance	PROMIS Sleep Disturbance Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Sleep Impairment	PROMIS Sleep Impairment Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Safety climate	Safety Climate Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Musculoskeletal pain	Survey measure of musculoskeletal pain (Nordic Musculoskeletal Symptoms Questionnaire)	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Lost work time	Sick days, tardiness, time lost due to injury and illness, and other work absences	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Physical activity accelerometer	Physical activity measured via accelerometry	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Occupational Sitting	Occupational Sitting and Physical Activity Questionnaire	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Job Turnover Intentions	Job Turnover Intentions Scale	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months
Lost Work Time	Days missed at work due to illness and injury	Change from baseline at 6 months and 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Oregon Health and Science University
• Collaborators: Portland State University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Wipfli B, Wild S, Hanson GC, Shea SA, Winters-Stone K, Thosar SS. The active workplace study: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial with sedentary workers. Contemp Clin Trials. 2021 Apr;103:106311. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2021.106311. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 10, 2018
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): September 1, 2020
• Study Completion (Anticipated): December 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 3, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 13, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): June 14, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 19, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 17, 2020
• Last Verified: August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: Active Workplace Study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Yes
• IPD Plan Description: Data will not be routinely provided to other researchers outside of the investigator team. However, requests for specific data from national governmental or international science-based organizations seeking to conduct meta-analyses of such data will be honored. We will make aggregated data from the analyses available to qualified researchers through publications and presentations at scientific meetings. We will make all our quantitative de-identified data available to other scientists after the publication of findings linked to our specific aims outlined in the research plan through the Data Repository or directly if not maintained in the Repository.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: Study Protocol; Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP); Analytic Code

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No