Multi-Component Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Japanese Office Workers: A Single-Arm Feasibility Study

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 19; no. 24; p. 16859
• Main Authors: Kim, Jihoon, Mizushima, Ryoko, Nishida, Kotaro, Morimoto, Masahiro, Nakata, Yoshio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 15.12.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Commuting; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; East Asian People; Exercise; Feasibility Studies; Goal setting; Health Promotion; Humans; Intervention; Pandemics; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Public health; Smartphones; Workers; Workplace; Japan; exercise; behavioral research; health promotion; occupational health; workplace
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192416859

This study investigated the feasibility of a multi-component intervention to promote physical activity (PA) among Japanese office workers. It was an 8-week single-arm trial conducted in Japan in 2021, in which 76 employees aged 20 or older, from an insurance company, participated. They received a multi-component PA intervention that comprised individual (lecture, print material, goal setting, and feedback), socio-cultural (team building and supportive atmosphere), physical (poster), and organizational (encouraging message from an executive) strategies. The primary outcome was change in objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). A paired t-test was used to compare the changes between weeks 0 and 8. We also conducted a subdomain analysis of PA divided into four domains (working, non-working, commuting working, and remote working). Excluding 26 participants who could not complete valid assessments, the MVPA among participants ( = 50, age 49.6 ± 9.7) significantly increased by +7.3 min/day [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8 to 13.8]. We also identified significant changes in MVPA by +10.0 min/day [95% CI, 3.7 to 16.3] in working days ( = 40), and by +7.1 min/day [95% CI, 0.4 to 13.7] in remote working days ( = 34). We demonstrated that multi-component PA interventions might improve MVPA among Japanese office workers.