The ability to benefit from an intervention to encourage use of treadmill workstations : Experiences of office workers with overweight or obesity

• One way to increase physical activity in offices is to install treadmill workstations, whereoffice workers can walk on a treadmill while performing their normal tasks. However, theexperiences of people using these treadmill workstations over a long period of time is notknown. In this 13-month study, we explored the experiences of office workers with treadmillworkstations available in their offices. After completing a larger randomized controlled trialwith 80 office workers ages 40 to 67 years with overweight or obesity, we interviewed 20 participantsfrom the intervention group, using a semi-structured interview guide. Data wereanalyzed using a grounded theory approach with constant comparison of emerging codes,subcategories, and categories, followed by connecting the categories to create a core category.The core category is described as the “Ability to benefit.” Although all participants hada rather high motivational level and pre-existing knowledge about the health benefits ofincreasing physical activity at work, they had different capacities for benefiting from the intervention.The categories are described as ideal types: the Convinced, the Competitive, theResponsible, and the Vacillating. These ideal types do not represent any single participantbut suggest generalized abstractions of experiences and strategies emerging from the codingof the interviews. One participant could easily have more than one ideal type. Becauseof differences in ideal type strategies and paths used throughout the course of the study,participants had different abilities to benefit from the intervention. Knowledge regarding theideal types may be applied to facilitate the use of the treadmill workstations. Because differentideal types might require different prompts for behavior change, tailored interventionstrategies directed towards specific ideal types could be necessary.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)