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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

WR1_2_3: Abstract presentations: Active Living Across Settings: Work, Travel and Everyday Life
Location: White room 1
Session Chair: Ilkka Väänänen

Presentation 3

2:30pm - 2:40pm

The impact of work location (home vs elsewhere) on sedentary behaviour outcomes in Scottish hybrid working University employees

Ailsa Niven¹, Sarah Morton¹, Anne Macdonald¹, Aja Murray¹, Divya Sivaramakrishnan¹, Philippa Dall², Claire Fitzsimons¹

1: University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom; 2: N/A

In the UK, more than 40% of employees now work from home (WFH) on at least one day per week, compared with 12% pre-COVID-19. WFH leads to higher levels of sedentary behaviour (SB) than when working from elsewhere (WFE). However, there are shortcomings in the evidence with a preponderance of between-group comparisons, limited device-based assessment, and a predominant focus on total daily SB. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of WFH vs WFE on device-assessed SB outcomes (total duration, sitting events, sitting events by duration) across the total day, working hours and non-working hours.

In this observational study, desk-based university employees (n=22; 16 female, mean age =39.5 years (SD 10.5)) who WFH (≥ 1 day p/week) wore the ActivPAL^TM device for 9-14 days and completed a diary to isolate waking and working/non-working time. Following data processing, descriptive data were calculated to compare WFH vs WFE.

Total sitting was 30 minutes greater during WFH days compared with WFE, of which the majority of during working hours. During WFH overall and during working hours specifically, there were fewer sitting events in total, fewer sitting events <30 mins, and more sitting events >30mins than when WFE. Employees spent more time in events of >30 minutes and less time in events of <30 minutes when WFH vs WFE, both overall and during working hours.

When WFH, employees spend more time sitting and this sitting is less fragmented than when WFE. Interventions designed to reduce SB when WFH are urgently needed.