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Effects of Bluetooth-Enabled Desk Ellipticals on Office Work Performance: Rationale, Design, and Protocol for a
Liza S Rovniak1, Marc A Adams2, Christopher N Sciamanna1
1Division of General Internal Medicine, Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States.
Background:
Workplaces that provide opportunities for physical activity without requiring extra time for activity could help counteract the obesity epidemic. Desk ellipticals can contribute to activity-supportive workplace environments; however, the feasibility of engaging employees in pedaling ellipticals during simultaneous office work has not been well evaluated.
Objective:
We aim to present the rationale and methods from an ongoing randomized trial with overweight and obese employees that will evaluate (1) the effects of pedaling a compact desk elliptical on work performance and (2) the influence of different incentive types and schedules on desk pedaling quantity.
Methods:
Overweight and obese medical center employees are being recruited in dyads for a 2 (gift card type: healthier food vs Amazon) by 3 (gift card schedule: immediate incentive contingent on individual pedaling quantity; immediate incentive partially contingent on dyads' joint pedaling quantity; and delayed noncontingent pedaling incentive) cluster randomized within-subjects factorial trial. All participants receive a Bluetooth-enabled desk elliptical for 4 weeks and access to a mobile app that provides real-time pedaling feedback. The primary aims are to assess (1) change in employee work performance from pre- to postelliptical installation via employee and supervisor ratings and (2) effects of gift card type and schedule on quantity of objectively measured desk pedaling completed.
Results:
Data collection is ongoing. We expect to complete main outcome analyses in 2020.
Conclusions:
This trial represents one of the earliest attempts to assess the effects of desk pedaling and pedaling-incentive types in real-world offices. It could help bridge the research-to-practice gap by providing evidence on whether desk pedaling can be sustained without compromising work performance.
International Registered Report Identifier (Irrid):
DERR1-10.2196/16275.
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