Are we sitting (too) comfortably?: Developing health-enhancing intervention strategies to reduce time spent sitting whilst working from home

随着我们摆脱新冠肺炎疫情，在家工作可能会成为许多员工的新常态。公司已经投资于为员工提供WfH的资源，许多员工将被鼓励继续在家工作。事实上，英国最大的公司之一（联合利华）本周（14.01.21）宣布，他们的办公室工作人员将永远不会回到每周五天在办公室工作，这种工作方式被视为“现在非常过时”。虽然这种转变对员工有积极的影响（例如没有通勤成本），但也有负面影响，特别是在久坐行为（如坐着）所花费的时间方面。随着在线会议所花费的时间增加，在通勤或移动到会议/与同事互动/出去吃午饭/喝咖啡时没有移动，对于许多员工来说，他们在WfH坐着的时间将大大增加。久坐行为已被确定为一种公共健康危害，具有身体（每天超过6-8小时与死亡率，2型糖尿病和肥胖症的风险增加有关）和心理健康后果（与抑郁症相关的久坐时间更长）。英国首席医疗官建议所有成年人应尽量减少一天中久坐不动的时间，并通过轻微的身体活动来打破长时间的久坐不动。传统的基于办公室的工作环境通常要求员工坐着进行工作。对传统办公室工作环境的研究已经出现，以探索久坐行为的水平，哪些因素影响坐在工作中的时间，以及成功干预的实施。然而，这些研究的结果不能应用于物理和社会环境非常不同的WfH（例如，家庭工作设置，没有同事，工作活动如何进行的差异）。缺乏与久坐行为有关的研究-我们目前不知道如何最好地支持员工，而WfH与他们的久坐行为有关。在工作方法普遍转变的这个时期，迫切需要可行、可接受、负担得起和持续有效的干预措施或方案。这项研究的总体目标是制定策略，以支持人们减少/打破久坐不动的行为。虽然所有员工都可以从干预中受益，但为了最大限度地提高当前和未来的公共健康收益，我们将重点放在与高水平坐姿相关的工作角色中的18-40岁年龄组。我们有五个具体目标：1。从传统工作场所的文献范围，以确定可转移的支持策略2。收集雇员及雇主对久坐行为的意见3。与雇员和雇主探讨他们对开发和完善干预资源的可接受性、可行性和参与度的看法4。持续咨询工作场所健康维护者5。设计和完善干预策略，并创建一个初步的理论，解释我们如何期望干预是有效的。鉴于对这一主题的研究很少，研究结果的潜在应用和益处可能会受到广泛关注。随着我们从新冠肺炎疫情中走出来，创造积极和支持性的工作环境，支持健康和福祉，促进生产力和参与度，将是许多公司的优先事项。本研究中创建的干预资源将支持WfH员工发展可持续行为，以减少久坐行为，从而最大限度地减少长时间久坐的短期影响（例如，肌肉-骨骼不适）和长期降低与慢性疾病（如2型糖尿病）相关的风险。

Working from home (WfH) is likely to become the new norm for many employees as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Companies have invested in setting employees up with the resources to WfH and many employees will be encouraged to continue home working. Indeed one of the UK's largest companies (Unilever) announced this week (14.01.21) that their office workers will never return to five days a week in an office with this type of working seen as "very old fashioned now". While there are positive consequences in relation to this shift for employees (e.g. no commuting costs), there are also negative effects particularly in relation to the amount of time spent in sedentary behaviours, such as sitting. With increased time spent in online meetings, no movement while commuting or moving around to meetings/interact with colleagues/go out for lunch/coffee, for many employees their time spent sitting while WfH will have dramatically increased. Time spent in sedentary behaviours has been identified as a public health hazard with both physical (more than 6-8 hours/day associated with an increased risk of mortality, type 2 diabetes and obesity) and mental health consequences (higher levels of sedentary time associated with depression). The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend all adults should minimise time spent sedentary across the day and break up long periods of sedentary time with light physical activity. Traditional office based work settings often require employees to conduct their work while seated. Research has emerged on the traditional office based work setting to explore levels of sedentary behaviour, what factors influence time spent sitting at work, and the implementation of successful interventions. The findings of these research studies cannot however be applied to WfH where the physical and social environment is very different (e.g. home working set up, absence of colleagues, difference in how work activities are conducted). Research relating specifically to sedentary behaviour while WfH is lacking - we currently don't know how best to support employees while WfH in relation to their sedentary behaviours. Interventions or programmes that are feasible, acceptable, affordable and effective over a sustained period are urgently needed in this time of a widespread shift in working practices. The overall aim of this research study is to develop strategies to support people WfH to reduce/break up their sedentary behaviour. Whilst all employees could benefit from intervention, to maximize current and future public health gain we have focused on the 18-40 years age group in job roles associated with high levels of sitting. We have five specific objectives: 1. To scope the literature from traditional workplaces to identify transferable support strategies2. To collect data from employees and employers on their views on sedentary behaviour3. To explore with employees and employers their perceptions in relation to acceptability, feasibility and engagement with interventions resources as they are developed and refined4. To continually consult with workplace well-being stakeholders5. To design and refine intervention strategies and create an initial theory explaining how we expect the intervention to be effective. Given the scarcity of research on this topic, the potential applications and benefits of the study findings are likely to be highly sought after with widespread benefit. As we emerge from Covid-19, the creation of positive and supporting work environments that support health and well-being, and facilitate productivity and engagement will be a priority for many companies. The intervention resources created in this study will support employees WfH to develop sustainable behaviours to reduce their sedentary behaviours thereby minimising short-term effects of long periods of sitting (e.g., musculo-skeletal discomfort) and longer term risk reduction in relation to chronic conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes.