Supporting Workers to Sit Less and Move More Through the Web-Based BeUpstanding Program: Protocol for a Single-Arm, Repeated Measures Implementation Study

Genevieve Nissa Healy; Ana D Goode; Alison Abbott; Jennifer Burzic; Bronwyn K Clark; David W Dunstan; Elizabeth G Eakin; Matthew Frith; Nicholas D Gilson; Lan Gao; Lynn Gunning; Jodie Jetann; Anthony D LaMontagne; Sheleigh P Lawler; Marjory Moodie; Phuong Nguyen; Neville Owen; Leon Straker; Perri Timmins; Lisa Ulyate; Elisabeth A H Winkler

doi:10.2196/15756

Supporting Workers to Sit Less and Move More Through the Web-Based BeUpstanding Program: Protocol for a Single-Arm, Repeated Measures Implementation Study

JMIR Res Protoc. 2020 May 4;9(5):e15756. doi: 10.2196/15756.

Authors

Genevieve Nissa Healy^{1

2

3}, Ana D Goode¹, Alison Abbott⁴, Jennifer Burzic¹, Bronwyn K Clark¹, David W Dunstan^{2

5}, Elizabeth G Eakin^{1

2}, Matthew Frith⁶, Nicholas D Gilson⁷, Lan Gao^{8

9}, Lynn Gunning¹⁰, Jodie Jetann¹, Anthony D LaMontagne¹¹, Sheleigh P Lawler¹, Marjory Moodie⁸, Phuong Nguyen⁸, Neville Owen^{2

12}, Leon Straker³, Perri Timmins¹³, Lisa Ulyate¹, Elisabeth A H Winkler¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
² Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
³ Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
⁴ Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, Office of Industrial Relations, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ Kin8, Melbourne, Australia.
⁷ School of Human Movement and Nutrition Science, Brisbane, Australia.
⁸ School of Health & Soc. Dev, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁹ The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia.
¹⁰ Comcare, Canberra, Australia.
¹¹ Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
¹² Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
¹³ Safe Work Australia, Canberra, Australia.

PMID: 32364513
PMCID: PMC7235812
DOI: 10.2196/15756

Abstract

Background: The web-based BeUpstanding Champion Toolkit was developed to support work teams in addressing the emergent work health and safety issue of excessive sitting. It provides a step-by-step guide and associated resources that equip a workplace representative-the champion-to adopt and deliver the 8-week intervention program (BeUpstanding) to their work team. The evidence-informed program is designed to raise awareness of the benefits of sitting less and moving more, build a supportive culture for change, and encourage staff to take action to achieve this change. Work teams collectively choose the strategies they want to implement and promote to stand up, sit less, and move more, with this bespoke and participative approach ensuring the strategies are aligned with the team's needs and existing culture. BeUpstanding has been iteratively developed and optimized through a multiphase process to ensure that it is fit for purpose for wide-scale implementation.

Objective: The study aimed to describe the current version of BeUpstanding, and the methods and protocol for a national implementation trial.

Methods: The trial will be conducted in collaboration with five Australian workplace health and safety policy and practice partners. Desk-based work teams from a variety of industries will be recruited from across Australia via partner-led referral pathways. Recruitment will target sectors (small business, rural or regional, call center, blue collar, and government) that are of priority to the policy and practice partners. A minimum of 50 work teams will be recruited per priority sector with a minimum of 10,000 employees exposed to the program. A single-arm, repeated-measures design will assess the short-term (end of program) and long-term (9 months postprogram) impacts. Data will be collected on the web via surveys and toolkit analytics and by the research team via telephone calls with champions. The Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance Framework will guide the evaluation, with assessment of the adoption/reach of the program (the number and characteristics of work teams and participating staff), program implementation (completion by the champion of core program components), effectiveness (on workplace sitting, standing, and moving), and maintenance (sustainability of changes). There will be an economic evaluation of the costs and outcomes of scaling up to national implementation, including intervention affordability and sustainability.

Results: The study received funding in June 2018 and the original protocol was approved by institutional review board on January 9, 2017, with national implementation trial consent and protocol amendment approved March 12, 2019. The trial started on June 12, 2019, with 48 teams recruited as of December 2019.

Conclusions: The implementation and multimethod evaluation of BeUpstanding will provide the practice-based evidence needed for informing the potential broader dissemination of the program.

Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12617000682347; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=372843&isReview=true.

International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/15756.

Keywords: activity; evaluation; health and safety; health promotion; implementation trial; occupational; public health; sitting; web-based; workplace.

©Genevieve Nissa Healy, Ana D Goode, Alison Abbott, Jennifer Burzic, Bronwyn K Clark, David W Dunstan, Elizabeth G Eakin, Matthew Frith, Nicholas D Gilson, Lan Gao, Lynn Gunning, Jodie Jetann, Anthony D LaMontagne, Sheleigh P Lawler, Marjory Moodie, Phuong Nguyen, Neville Owen, Leon Straker, Perri Timmins, Lisa Ulyate, Elisabeth A H Winkler. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 04.05.2020.