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Monitoring Occupational Sitting, Standing, and Stepping in Office Employees With the W@W-App and the MetaWearC
Judit Bort-Roig1, Emilia Chirveches-Pérez2, Francesc Garcia-Cuyàs3
1Sport and Physical Activity Research Group, Centre for Health and Social Care Research, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Spain.
JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth
|May 28, 2020
Summary
A new mobile health app (W@W-App) with a motion sensor accurately measures office workers' sitting and standing time. This low-cost tool can help reduce sedentary behavior and improve employee health.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Biomedical Engineering
- Wearable Technology
Background:
- Replacing occupational sitting with active tasks offers health benefits for office workers.
- Mobile health (mHealth) devices show potential for real-time monitoring of sedentary behavior.
- The validity of mHealth devices for quantifying and modifying occupational sedentary time requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate the Walk@Work-Application (W@W-App) and MetaWearC motion sensor for measuring occupational sitting, standing, and stepping.
- To compare the W@W-App and MetaWearC system against the activPAL3M, a gold-standard device for postural behavior measurement.
- To assess the accuracy and agreement of the W@W-App system in free-living conditions.
Main Methods:
- Twenty office workers participated, wearing the W@W-App on their mobile phones and a MetaWearC sensor on their thigh.
- Participants also wore the activPAL3M device for 3-8 consecutive working hours.
- Statistical analyses included paired-samples t tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, concordance correlation coefficients (CCCs), Bland-Altman plots, and equivalence testing.
Main Results:
- No significant differences were found in sitting, standing, or stepping times between the W@W-App+MetaWearC and activPAL3M.
- Substantial agreement was observed for sitting (CCC=0.98) and moderate agreement for standing (CCC=0.93).
- Poor agreement was noted for stepping (CCC=0.74), though equivalence testing confirmed agreement for sitting and standing.
Conclusions:
- The W@W-App combined with the MetaWearC sensor is a low-cost, accurate tool for real-time quantification of occupational sitting, standing, and stationary time.
- This mHealth tool has the potential to positively influence occupational sitting behaviors through real-time feedback.
- The system demonstrates acceptable accuracy for monitoring postural behaviors in office workers.
