Effectiveness of a digital multi-component intervention to reduce sitting in the home-office

Abstract Objectives Home-office work has been shown to increase occupational sitting compared to the traditional office environment. As the number home-office workers remains high and given the harmful effects of prolonged sitting, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a digital multicomponent intervention on reducing sitting in home-office workers. Methods A two-arm cluster randomised controlled trial in four European countries. At baseline, 160 participants were recruited with 128 participants at 3-month follow-up. The intervention consisted of a wrist-worn wearable device together with a mobile phone application to deliver strategies at different levels (individual, organisational and environmental). Primary (i.e. occupational sedentary time) and secondary outcomes (i.e. total and occupational physical activity and sedentary bouts), were measured using activPAL3tm. The preliminary effects of the intervention were assessed using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results Mean(sd) total occupational sedentary time at baseline was 6.5(1.4) and 6.3(1.2) hours/day for the intervention group and control group, respectively. Within group analyses showed a significant reduction in total occupational sedentary time (z = 903.0, p = 0.010) and total time of sedentary bouts greater than 60 minutes (z = 827.0, p = 0.033) in the intervention group at 3-months. ANCOVA results showed no significant difference between the study groups in the mean change in occupational sedentary time. Further, in any of the sedentary or activity variables, no significant differences were found. Conclusions While these results show promising signs of the effectiveness of the digital multicomponent intervention on total and prolonged occupational sedentary behaviours, more time may be required to observe meaningful and significant change in this intervention. It is further recommended to further investigate whether the effects persist over time and result in work-related outcomes. Key messages • A digital multi-component intervention seems promising for reducing sitting in the home-office context. • More investigation is needed to get insight into longer term effects.