Exploring Work-Time Affective States Through Ecological Momentary Assessment in an Office-Based Intervention to Reduce Occupational Sitting.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine whether a low-cost standing desk intervention that reduced occupational sitting was associated with changes in work-time cognitive-affective states in real time using ecological momentary assessments at the start and end of the trial. METHODS: Forty-one office employees (91.7% female, mean age = 39.8 [10.1] y) were randomized to receive a low-cost standing desk or a waitlist control. Participants received 5 surveys each day for 5 workdays via smartphone application prior to randomization and at trial's end. Ecological momentary assessment assessed current work-time psychological states (valence and arousal, stress, fatigue, and perceived productivity). Multilevel models assessed whether changes in work-time outcomes over the course of the intervention were significantly different between treatment groups. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in outcomes between the groups except for fatigue, with the control group reporting a significant decrease in daily fatigue following the intervention (P < .001). The intervention group reported no significant changes in any of the work-time outcomes across the study period (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: A low-cost standing desk intervention to reduce occupational sedentary behavior did not negatively impact work-time outcomes such as productivity and fatigue in the short term.

Post-secondary students' adherence to the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults: Results from the first deployment of the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (CCWS). / Respect des Directives canadiennes en matière de mouvement sur 24 heures par les étudiants de niveau postsecondaire : résultats de la première enquête Bien-être sur les campus canadiens (BECC).

INTRODUCTION: New Canadian 24-Hour movement guidelines for adults recommend several hours of light physical activity each day, 150 minutes/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) including muscle strengthening activities at least twice a week, no more than 8 hours of sedentary time and 3 hours of recreational screen time each day, and 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. This study examines post-secondary student adherence to the guidelines and its associations with sociodemographic factors and mental health. METHODS: We analyzed data from a sample of 20 090 post-secondary students in Canada who participated in the 2019-2020 Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (CCWS). Prevalence of meeting guidelines for physical activity, sedentary time, recreational screen time and sleep were examined. We conducted logistic regression to examine associations between meeting movement guidelines and sociodemographic factors and mental health outcomes. RESULTS: Only 9.9% of students (females 10.4%; males 9.2%) were currently achieving four components of the 24-hour movement guidelines. Respondents most commonly adhered to MVPA (61.1%) and sleep (59.7%) guidelines. Adherence to sedentary and screen time guidelines was lower (56.3% and 36.2%, respectively). Sociodemographic factors associated with higher odds of meeting the guidelines included being female, older age, self-identifying as White, and living at high socioeconomic status. Students who reported higher psychological well-being were more likely to meet the guidelines. DISCUSSION: Overall adherence to the new guidelines is low among post-secondary students in Canada. The CCWS provides a mechanism for monitoring the dissemination and implementation of the new Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for adults.

Strange Days: Adult Physical Activity and Mental Health in the First Two Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: In addition to its physical health benefits, physical activity is increasingly recognized as a means to support mental health. Regular moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is associated with improved mental well-being, reduced likelihood of developing mental illness, and improved symptom management. Despite these benefits, most people fail to achieve minimum recommended levels of MVPA. Population levels of physical activity have further declined since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and implementation of public health measures (e.g., shelter-in-place protocols). The potential impact of this decline on mental heath outcomes warrants ongoing investigation. Purpose: To investigate associations between changes in MVPA and mental health (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and life satisfaction) in adults impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Research followed a cross-sectional design. English-speaking adults were invited to complete an online questionnaire. MVPA was assessed retrospectively (before COVID-19) and currently (during COVID-19) with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Mental health was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire, 9-Item (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder, 7-Item (GAD-7), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Regression was used to assess relationships between MVPA and mental health. ANOVA with follow-up tests examined whether participants who differed in mental health status (e.g., no symptoms vs. severe symptoms) differed in their change in MVPA. T-tests were used to examine differences in mental health symptomatology between participants who were sufficiently (i.e., achieving MVPA guidelines of ≥ 150 min/week) vs. insufficiently active. Results: Prior to COVID-19, 68.2% of participants were classified as being sufficiently active, vs. 60.6% during COVID-19. The majority of participants reported experiencing some level of depressive symptoms (62.0%) or anxiety symptoms (53.7%). After controlling for covariates, changes in MVPA accounted for significant variability in the PHQ-9 (7.7%), GAD-7 (2.5%), and SWLS (1.5 %). Participants with clinically significant mental health symptomatology reported greater declines in MVPA than those who reported no symptoms. Conversely, participants who were sufficiently active during COVID-19 reported significantly lower depression and anxiety, and higher life satisfaction. Conclusion: Participants who experienced the greatest declines in MVPA reported relatively greater psychological distress and lower life satisfaction. While preliminary, these findings suggest the importance of maintaining and promoting physical activity during a period of pandemic.

Child Care Setting and Its Association With Policies and Practices That Promote Physical Activity and Physical Literacy in the Early Years in British Columbia.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) is critical to early child development, and child care is a key setting for promotion. The authors investigated differences in daily PA and sedentary behavior practices as well as physical environments between family child care (FCC) and group child care (GCC) settings for children aged 3-5 years in Canada. METHODS: Group child care (n = 581) and FCC (n = 357) managers completed surveys assessing the implementation of PA promoting practices and description of their environments. Crosstabulation and chi-square tests of association were used to examine differences between GCC and FCC. RESULTS: The prevalence of facilities implementing 120 minutes of active play (odds ratio [OR] 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.58-3.15), <30 minutes on screens (OR 1.35; 95% CI, 1.02-1.80), and 60-minute outdoors daily (OR 1.99; 95% CI, 1.4-2.9) was more likely in FCC compared with GCC. However, implementation of fundamental movement skill activities (OR 1.40; 95% CI, 1.01-1.92), breaking up prolonged sitting (OR 1.86; 95% CI, 1.36-2.5), and outdoor space for large group running games (OR 1.74; 95% CI, 1.07-2.83) were more likely in GCC. CONCLUSIONS: Child care setting was associated with daily PA and sedentary practices and outdoor space for PA. Interventions to support PA in child care should be tailored to different settings and the facilitators explored.

Impact of a low-cost standing desk on reducing workplace sitting (StandUP UBC): A randomised controlled trial.

Sit-stand desks can reduce occupational sitting time, however, their cost can limit scalability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a low-cost standing desk on objectively-measured occupational sitting and prolonged sitting bouts over 3- and 6-months. Secondary outcomes included self-report work engagement and occupational fatigue. Forty-eight office employees (91.7% female, Mage = 39.8 ±â€¯10.1) were randomized to receive a low-cost standing desk or to a control group. At 3-months, the intervention group sat 0.7 h (42min) less at work compared to the control group; F(1, 45) = 5.90, partial η2 = 0.12, p = .019. The effect was small, yet comparable to findings from studies using costlier alternatives. However, these reductions were not maintained at 6-months. No changes in prolonged sitting bouts or secondary outcomes were found. There is some potential for low-cost standing desk converters as a scalable workplace health intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03375749, Registered 18 December 2017, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03375749?term=NCT03375749&rank=1.

Exploring the effectiveness of a school-based physical activity policy in British Columbia, Canada: a mixed-methods observational study.

The Daily Physical Activity (DPA) policy in British Columbia requires elementary schools to help students achieve 30 min of physical activity during instructional and noninstructional time on school days. The purpose of this study was to determine how elementary teachers implement the DPA policy, and examine differences in children's light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at school, based on how the teacher implemented the DPA policy during the school day (provision of DPA during instructional time or only noninstructional time). In this observational mixed-methods study, 12 teachers were interviewed on their implementation approaches. Teachers provided DPA opportunities during instructional time (i.e., prescriptive implementers, n = 9) or relied on students to be active during noninstructional times (i.e., nonprescriptive, n = 3). Next, 10 students from each interviewed teacher's classroom were randomly selected to wear accelerometers for one school week. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the contribution of teacher's implementation strategy on student's activity levels. t-Tests examined differences in students' activity levels between implementation groups. Teacher's DPA implementation strategy accounted for a significant proportion of variance in student's activity throughout the school day (p's < .05). The prescriptive group (n = 88) was more active (LPA and MVPA) and spent a greater proportion of their school days in MVPA during instructional time than the nonprescriptive group (n = 23). Heterogeneity in policy implementation creates variations in policy effectiveness. Students provided with opportunities to be active during instructional time may accumulate more MVPA compared with those who are not given these opportunities. Registration: Not applicable.

The Protective Effects of School Connectedness on Substance Use and Physical Activity.

PURPOSE: Cross-sectional evidence suggests that school connectedness is an important correlate of health-related behaviors among adolescents, but prospective studies are needed to strengthen the case for a causal relationship. This study investigated the prospective relationship between school connectedness and four health-related behaviors: cigarette smoking, marijuana use, binge drinking, and physical activity. METHODS: We analyzed 4 years of data from the COMPASS study. Participants included in this analysis were 33,313 students who provided information on sociodemographic, school connectedness, and the four health-related behaviors for at least two consecutive years. Generalized Estimating Equation models were used to examine whether the change in school connectedness scores predicted the change in an individual child's trajectory of health-related behaviors across 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. RESULTS: As students moved to higher grades, school connectedness decreased, and the likelihood of being a less frequent smoker, marijuana user, and binge drinker, and meeting physical activity guidelines declined. An increase in school connectedness scores was associated with an increased likelihood of meeting physical activity recommendations (OR = 1.06, p < .01), being a less frequent smoker, marijuana user, and binge drinker (OR = 1.30, 1.17, 1.10, respectively; p's < .0001) across the 4 years. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides prospective evidence supporting the protective effects of school connectedness on substance abuse and physical activity, and highlights the importance of fostering school connectedness to support healthy adolescent development.

Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of a school-based physical activity policy in Canada: application of the theoretical domains framework.

BACKGROUND: In British Columbia Canada, a Daily Physical Activity (DPA) policy was mandated that requires elementary school teachers to provide students with opportunities to achieve 30 min of physical activity during the school day. However, the implementation of school-based physical activity policies is influenced by many factors. A theoretical examination of the factors that impede and enhance teachers' implementation of physical activity policies is necessary in order to develop strategies to improve policy practice and achieve desired outcomes. This study used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to understand teachers' barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the DPA policy in one school district. Additionally, barriers and facilitators were examined and compared according to how the teacher implemented the DPA policy during the instructional school day. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with thirteen teachers and transcribed verbatim. One researcher performed barrier and facilitator extraction, with double extraction occurring across a third of the interview transcripts by a second researcher. A deductive and inductive analytical approach in a two-stage process was employed whereby barriers and facilitators were deductively coded using TDF domains (content analysis) and analyzed for sub-themes within each domain. Two researchers performed coding. RESULTS: A total of 832 items were extracted from the interview transcripts. Some items were coded into multiple TDF domains, resulting in a total of 1422 observations. The most commonly coded TDF domains accounting for 75% of the total were Environmental context and resources (ECR; n = 250), Beliefs about consequences (n = 225), Social influences (n = 193), Knowledge (n = 100), and Intentions (n = 88). Teachers who implemented DPA during instructional time differed from those who relied on non-instructional time in relation to Goals, Behavioural regulation, Social/professional role and identity, Beliefs about Consequences. Forty-one qualitative sub-themes were identified across the fourteen domains and exemplary quotes were highlighted. CONCLUSIONS: Teachers identified barriers and facilitators relating to all TDF domains, with ECR, Beliefs about consequences, Social influences, Knowledge and Intentions being the most often discussed influencers of DPA policy implementation. Use of the TDF to understand the implementation factors can assist with the systematic development of future interventions to improve implementation.

A theoretical analysis of the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of school-based physical activity policies in Canada: a mixed methods scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Given the potential impact school-based daily physical activity (DPA) policies can have on the health outcomes of Canadian children, it is surprising that such little research has examined the implementation and student-level effectiveness of these policies, and that even less have used theory to understand the barriers and facilitators affecting uptake of this policy by teachers. This review descriptively summarizes the implementation status, approaches used to implement DPA, and the effectiveness of DPA at increasing the physical activity of children at school. In addition, the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) was used to explore the barriers and facilitators to DPA implementation. METHODS: A scoping review of English articles using ERIC, CINAHL, and Google Scholar (2005 to 2016) was conducted. Only studies that evaluated the implementation and/or student-level effectiveness of DPA policies in Canadian elementary schools were included. Only articles that examined DPA implementation barriers and facilitators by teachers, principals, and/or administration were eligible for the TDF analysis. Data on study characteristics and major findings regarding implementation status, implementation approach used, and impact on student's physical activity were extracted and were summarized descriptively, including study quality indicators. Two coders extracted and categorized implementation barriers and facilitators into TDF domains. RESULTS: The search resulted in 66 articles being retrieved and 38 being excluded for not meeting the eligibility criteria, leaving 15 eligible for review (10 of which examined barriers and facilitators to implementation from DPA deliverers' perspective). Eleven of 15 studies examined the Ontario DPA policy, and 2 studies were from both Alberta and British Columbia. Thirteen studies examined implementation, and only two examined effectiveness. DPA implementation status, approaches to delivery, and effectiveness on student's PA levels are inconsistent across the three provinces. A total of 203 barriers/facilitators were extracted across the ten implementation studies, most of which related to the environmental context and resources (ECR; n = 86; 37.4%), beliefs about consequences (n = 41; 17.8%), and social influences (n = 36; 15.7%) TDF domains. CONCLUSIONS: With the limited research examining the DPA policy in Canada, the current status and approaches used to implement DPA and the student-level effectiveness is not well understood; however, this review revealed that DPA deliverers often report many barriers to DPA implementation. Most importantly, in conducting a TDF-based analysis of the barriers/facilitators affecting implementation, this review provides a theoretical basis by which researchers and policy-makers can design interventions to better target these problems in the future. REGISTRATION: A protocol for this review was not registered.