One Step at a Time: An Intervention to Reduce Sedentary Behavior Among Working Adults

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Status: Completed

Conditions: Adult; Middle Age; Exercise; Sedentary Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Increase MVPA group; Behavioral: Decrease Sedentary Time + Increase MVPA group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05281978

22651

Details and patient eligibility

About

The proposed study will test the preliminary efficacy of a novel 12-week social cognitive theory-based intervention that will target reducing daily sitting time and increasing exercise participation among middle-aged working adults. This is a population highly susceptible to excessive sedentary time and low levels of exercise engagement. This two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) will examine the preliminary efficacy of decreasing sedentary time in addition to increasing moderate-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) engagement, compared to a group which only receives MVPA promotion.

Enrollment: 88 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 45 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 45-65 years of age by study start date
• Hold full-time employment (≥ 30 hours/week) at one or more jobs
• Hold a sedentary-based job (which also allows for ability to freely move about during the workday)
• Low active (engage in ≤2 days of 30+ minutes of structured moderate-vigorous intensity exercise/week)
• Physician's consent to participate in aerobic testing and/or the exercise program (if needed based on Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire responses)
• Ambulatory
• Absence of health conditions that may be made worse by exercise
• Ability to complete all testing assessments in-person
• Access to a laptop/desktop/phone with Zoom web-conferencing software
• Fluent in English

Exclusion criteria

• Under 45 or over 65 years of age
• Not holding full-time employment (work < 30 hours/week at one or more jobs)
• Hold a job(s) which is classified as light, medium, heavy, or very heavy work
• Hold a sedentary-based job which does not allow for free movement throughout the workday (i.e., bus driver)
• High active (engage in > 2 days or 30+ minutes of structured moderate-vigorous intensity exercise/week)
• Non-consent of physician
• Non-ambulatory (i.e., use of walkers, wheelchair, cane, etc.)
• Presence of health conditions that may be made worse by exercise.
• Unable to complete assessments in-person
• No access to laptop/desktop/phone with Zoom software

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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88 participants in 2 patient groups

Decrease Sedentary Time + Increase MVPA

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in this group will receive a 12-week, social cognitive theory-based intervention targetting reduction of daily sedentary time. This information will be delivered to them in the form of Zoom workshops, a program workbook, personalized step count goals, and a private social media page. The aim of this component will be to have participants displace their daily sedentary time with light-intensity physical activity, such as casual walking. The second component of this intervention will be increasing participants' weekly MVPA engagement. Participants will participate in 1 live, virtual aerobics-based exercise class per week and complete 2 additional sessions on their own time. Participants will build up to exercising 150 minutes/week (the federal physical activity recommendations).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Decrease Sedentary Time + Increase MVPA group

Increase MVPA only

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants in this group will only receive the MVPA-promoting component (which will be the same delivery as the intervention group). Participants in this arm will participate in 1 live, virtual aerobics-based exercise class per week (held separately from the intervention group) and will complete 2 additional exercise classes on their own time. Participants will build up to exercising 150 minutes/week (the federal physical activity recommendations).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Increase MVPA group