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

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: Physically Well But Worried
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: web-based intervention; Behavioral: blended intervention

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

Study Locations

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

Participation Criteria

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

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

3

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	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)	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	Height will be measured to the nearest 0.1 cm using a stadiometer.	baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Weight in kilograms	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)	Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) will be calculated from weight and height.	baseline, 13 weeks, 25 weeks
Waist circumference (cm)	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	%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)	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 (%)	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	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	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)	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)	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

• 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

General Publications

• Sun Y, Wang A, Yu S, Hagger MS, Chen X, Fong SSM, Zhang C, Huang WY, Baker JS, Dutheil F, Gao Y. A blended intervention to promote physical activity, health and work productivity among office employees using intervention mapping: a study protocol for a cluster-randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health. 2020 Jun 25;20(1):994. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09128-z.

Study record dates

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: physical activity; health promotion
• 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