A Blended Intervention to Promote Physical Activity, Health and Work Productivity Among Office Employees

February 28, 2024 updated by: Gao Yang, Hong Kong Baptist University

A Blended Intervention to Promote Physical Activity, Health and Work Productivity Among Office Employees Using Intervention Mapping: A Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

The primary objective of this study is to examine between-group differences in changes of objectively measured MVPA levels (min/week) among a randomly selected sample of office employees who are physically inactive in Hong Kong.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Regular participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is related to decreased risk of morbidity and mortality. Among working populations, lack of MVPA may also be a risk factor for absenteeism and presenteeism. Both traditional workplace-based and web-based interventions have been suggested as being effective in promoting participation MVPA, health-related outcomes, and work-related productivity. However, several challenges limit their application in real world contexts. A 'blended' intervention approach combining the two intervention strategies is proposed to overcome these limitations. The proposed intervention aims to utilize the blended approach to increase participation in MVPA, health-related outcomes, and work productivity among inactive workers.

Methods: The study will comprise of a three group cluster randomized controlled trial (cluster-RCT), comprising a three-month actual intervention and a nine-month behavioral follow-up period. The three groups will be: a web-based intervention group, a blended intervention group combining the web-based components with face-to-face workshops, and a control group. Physically inactive office employees (N = 141) from will be recruited and randomly assigned to the three groups by cluster randomization. The intervention mapping (IM) framework will be used for selecting and applying effective health behavioural theories and behavioural change techniques (BCTs) to the development, implementation and assessment of the intervention, which will be personally tailored. The primary outcome variable will be objectively measured MVPA using an accelerometer. Secondary outcomes will consist of indices of health including adiposity, blood pressure, blood sugar, blood lipids, self-reported depression, anxiety, stress, and health-related quality of life, and work-related variables including absenteeism and presenteeism.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

141

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Hong Kong
      • Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
        • Department of Sport, Physical Education, and Health

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • physically inactive (do NOT meet the WHO's recommended MVPA levels)
  • office employees in Hong Kong.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • participants are engaging other ongoing programs involving MVPA promotion
  • if they report any conditions preventing them from being active.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: web-based intervention group
Except "Library", the participants in this group will also have access to the "Intervention" sub-section of the website. It will consist of six sessions delivered every two weeks following the same time schedule as the essay delivery in "Library".
Behavioral: web-based intervention
A web-based intervention only referred to the use of internet without traditional face-to-face workshops and posters
Experimental: blended intervention group
Except visiting "Library" and "Intervention" of the website, the participants in this group will also receive three face-to-face workshops (40 min per session) held at their workplaces.
Behavioral: blended intervention
A blended intervention group combining the web-based components with face-to-face workshops and posters
No Intervention: Control group
The participants in the control group will have access to the "Library" sub-section of the website. General information of MVPA, health and work productivity will be provided with 18 short essays, which can be downloaded and printed out. The information will be factual and non-personally tailored.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
examine between-group differences in changes of objectively measured MVPA levels (min/week) among a randomly selected sample of office employees who are physically inactive in Hong Kong
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
changes of self-report MVPA levels (min/week)
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
To examine between-group differences in changes of self-reported MVPA levels (min/week) in different domains among the sample.
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Height in meters
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Height will be measured to the nearest 0.1 cm using a stadiometer.
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Weight in kilograms
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Weight will be measured to the nearest 0.1 kg on a calibrated digital balance scale (Seca, max. 200 kg, Germany) with the participants wearing lightweight clothing and no shoes.
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2)
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) will be calculated from weight and height.
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Waist circumference (cm)
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Waist circumference (cm) will be measured midway between the lowest rib margin and the top of the iliac crest at the end of gentle expiration
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
%Body fat
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
%BF will be assessed by a Tanita TBF-410 Body Composition Analyzer (Tanita Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) using foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Blood pressure (mmHg)
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Blood pressure will be measured using the Omron M6 Compact (HEM-7000-E, Omron Healthcare Corporation, Kyoto, Japan) following standard measurement protocols.
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Hemoglobin A1C (%)
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Hemoglobin A1C will be measured using the Reflotron ® Plus system (Roche Diagnostics, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Burgess Hill, UK).
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Depression, anxiety and stress
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Depression, anxiety and stress will be measured using the Chinese version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21)
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Presenteeism
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
It will be assessed using presenteeism questions derived from the WHO's Heath and Work Performance Questionnaire (HPO).
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
High-density lipoprotein (mmol/L)
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
high-density lipoprotein will be measured using the Reflotron ® Plus system (Roche Diagnostics, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Burgess Hill, UK).
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Triglyceride (mmol/L)
Time Frame: baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Triglyceride will be measured using the Reflotron ® Plus system (Roche Diagnostics, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Burgess Hill, UK).
baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Hong Kong Baptist University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Martin S. Hagger, Dr., University of California, Merced
  • Principal Investigator: Xiangyan Chen, Dr., The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  • Principal Investigator: Xiu Ming Fong, Dr., Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education, Hong Kong, China
  • Principal Investigator: Chunqing Zhang, Dr., Hong Kong Baptist University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 30, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

July 30, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 4, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 12, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

May 18, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 1, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 28, 2024

Last Verified

February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 12609919

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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