Short‐term effects of a social media‐based intervention on the physical and mental health of remotely working young software professionals: A randomised controlled trial

• Published in: Applied psychology : health and well-being Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 537 - 554
• Main Authors: Muniswamy, Prabhu, Gorhe, Varadayini, Parashivakumar, Lavanya, Chandrasekaran, Baskaran
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.05.2022
• Subjects: Covid‐19; E‐health intervention; Facebook; Health status; Humans; Intervention; Mass media effects; Mental Health; Mental health services; Occupational Health; Pandemics; prolonged sitting; sedentary behaviour; Social Media; Social networks; Software; Workers; working from home; Workplace; sedentary behaviour; working from home; prolonged sitting; Covid-19; Facebook; E-health intervention
• ISSN: 1758-0846; 1758-0854
• DOI: 10.1111/aphw.12318

The present study aimed to explore the short term effects of a social media‐based intervention on the physical and mental health of the software professionals working remotely during the pandemic. Sixty software professionals with poor physical and mental health were randomised to Facebook‐based intervention (FIIT) and a control (CONT) group for 2 months. Forty‐six remote workers (26.25 ± 3.49 years) completed the study (FIIT = 22; CONT = 26). All the respondents had the median sitting time (7.07 ± 2.30 h/day) during office hours on workdays. We found a significant difference in the sitting time during office hours in workday within the subjects (F1,46 = 4.66; p < .004; ηp2 = .048) and between the subjects (F1,46 = 3.81; p < .004; ηp2 = .040). Post hoc analysis revealed participants in the FIIT group reduced their sitting time by 58 min during office hours during a typical workday compared with the control group. Nevertheless, we found a significant difference in the scores of stress, anxiety and depression within and between the groups. Short‐term social media‐based physical and mental health intervention may improve physical and mental health scores in the desk‐based office workers working remotely.