Reducing classroom sedentary behaviour: a scoping review of interventions and student involvement

Sedentary behaviour is increasingly common and is becoming a challenge to maintain the young population healthy. This scoping review aims to identify the existing literature on strategies for altering the classroom design to reduce sedentary behaviour in classroom settings during lessons and the impact of interventions. Three electronic databases (ERIC, PsycInfo, and Scopus) were searched for relevant literature. A total of 40 eligible articles from different countries published between January 2003 and April 2024 were included in the review, which was carried out to identify interventions to prevent sedentary behaviour by redesigning the classroom. The methodology was conducted by the framework presented by Arksey and O'Malley and is reported following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The findings reveal various approaches to preventing sedentary behaviour through active desks (e.g. standing desks, sit-to-stand desks, bicycling desks, and stability balls). Most studies focused on stand-biased desks, targeting students (9-12 years old) and were primarily from the USA. Since standing was voluntary, only minor bouts of standing and movement were typically achieved. Only a few studies included partial co-design elements. The thematic analysis identifies the impact of the different interventions. Five themes were found: impact on physical activity, classroom behaviour, cognitive performance, physical and/or mental well-being and challenges. The findings suggest that standing at standing desks while studying does not pose significant physical or mental challenges for students, although some physical fatigue was observed after prolonged standing up. However, a key gap was the absence of co-design in the intervention process. Trial registration: The scoping review protocol was not pre-registered.