Stand Up for Your Health: The Up Project

Summary

In today's modern workplace, desk-based work is prevalent, leading to prolonged periods of sitting and limited physical activity among workers. This sedentary behavior can have detrimental effects on the physical and mental health of employees. Besides, this behavior contributes to the rising incidence of metabolic and general health problems in workers, even independently of their physical activity levels, leading to reduced productivity for the company and an increased economic burden on public health.

The Up Project is a Quasi-experimental controlled trial designed to assess the efficacy of two interventions to reduce sedentary behavior in the workplace. The study involves three groups: a) a control group, b) a group with booster breaks (led by professionals), and c) a group with unled computer prompts. The primary outcomes being measured are cardiometabolic risk and stress perception, while secondary outcomes include physical activity, sedentary behavior, and occupational pain.

This study is expected to contribute to the research gap in this area by providing valuable insights into the efficacy of interventions aimed at reducing sedentary behavior and its impact on health in the workplace.

Conditions

• Sedentary Behavior

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Experimental led booster breaks

Participants in this group will receive interventions in the form of active breaks, administered by professionals in the relevant field, such as Physical Education teachers, for a period of 12 weeks. The active breaks will comprise exercises of light-to-moderate intensity, based on the guidelines provided by the Chilean safety association (ACHS), with an average duration of 14-16 minutes per day from Monday to Friday. The exercise types and progression will be elaborated in our protocol and published as supplementary material.

BEHAVIORAL

Experimental unled computer-prompts

Participants in this group will receive interventions in the form of active breaks, facilitated through an application called "Ponte de pie por tu salud," proposed by the Chilean Ministry of Health. This off-line application will be configured to generate breaks every hour, lasting for 2 minutes per break, over the course of 8 hours. This ensures that an average of 14-16 minutes of active breaks are accumulated throughout the day. Our research team will install the application on the participants' work computers and collect data from these computers weekly. At the end of the intervention period, the application will be uninstalled if necessary.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Carlos Cristi-Montero, Ph.D. · Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso, Valparaiso,Chile

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-03-20

Primary Completion

2023-09-30

Completion

2023-09-30

Countries

• Chile

Study Locations