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Effectiveness of Pedometer-Based Walking Program to Improve Physical Activity of Workers in a Software Industry: An Experimental Study

BACKGROUND: Workplace acts as an efficient target for health promotion activities. Pedometer can act as a motivator and monitor of physical activity. AIMS: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of pedometer usage in increasing physical activity and the level of adherence among employees of a...

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Autores principales: Mathew, Varna, Akkilagunta, Sujiv, Kumar, Dinesh, Lakshminarayanan, Subitha, Kar, Sitanshu Sekhar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6528552/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31143423
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_378_17
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author Mathew, Varna
Akkilagunta, Sujiv
Kumar, Dinesh
Lakshminarayanan, Subitha
Kar, Sitanshu Sekhar
author_facet Mathew, Varna
Akkilagunta, Sujiv
Kumar, Dinesh
Lakshminarayanan, Subitha
Kar, Sitanshu Sekhar
author_sort Mathew, Varna
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Workplace acts as an efficient target for health promotion activities. Pedometer can act as a motivator and monitor of physical activity. AIMS: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of pedometer usage in increasing physical activity and the level of adherence among employees of a software company in Puducherry. METHODS: An interventional study was conducted with a prepost design. A single group of software company employees (n = 46), age ≥30 years selected by simple random sampling, was included in the study. Intervention consisted of health education program on physical activity, goal setting, and instructions regarding the use of pedometers for 1 week. Physical activity levels were measured at baseline and endline using global physical activity questionnaire. RESULTS: Out of the 46 participants, 93% of the participants used the pedometer for at least 6 days. The difference between maximum observed step count during the week (median 9834 steps) and at baseline (6963 steps) was significant. Overall, 93.5% found pedometers to be useful for improving physical activity. Proportion of individuals with adequate physical activity based on Metabolic equivalents (MET) minutes increased from 41.3% (n = 19) at baseline to 69.6% at endline (n = 32) (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a pedometer-driven walking intervention in the workplace setting is feasible and effective in increasing physical activity over a short term. Further research is required to test the effect of supportive strategies and long-term effectiveness of pedometer use.
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spelling pubmed-65285522019-05-29 Effectiveness of Pedometer-Based Walking Program to Improve Physical Activity of Workers in a Software Industry: An Experimental Study Mathew, Varna Akkilagunta, Sujiv Kumar, Dinesh Lakshminarayanan, Subitha Kar, Sitanshu Sekhar Int J Prev Med Original Article BACKGROUND: Workplace acts as an efficient target for health promotion activities. Pedometer can act as a motivator and monitor of physical activity. AIMS: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of pedometer usage in increasing physical activity and the level of adherence among employees of a software company in Puducherry. METHODS: An interventional study was conducted with a prepost design. A single group of software company employees (n = 46), age ≥30 years selected by simple random sampling, was included in the study. Intervention consisted of health education program on physical activity, goal setting, and instructions regarding the use of pedometers for 1 week. Physical activity levels were measured at baseline and endline using global physical activity questionnaire. RESULTS: Out of the 46 participants, 93% of the participants used the pedometer for at least 6 days. The difference between maximum observed step count during the week (median 9834 steps) and at baseline (6963 steps) was significant. Overall, 93.5% found pedometers to be useful for improving physical activity. Proportion of individuals with adequate physical activity based on Metabolic equivalents (MET) minutes increased from 41.3% (n = 19) at baseline to 69.6% at endline (n = 32) (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a pedometer-driven walking intervention in the workplace setting is feasible and effective in increasing physical activity over a short term. Further research is required to test the effect of supportive strategies and long-term effectiveness of pedometer use. Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2019-04-26 /pmc/articles/PMC6528552/ /pubmed/31143423 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_378_17 Text en Copyright: © 2019 International Journal of Preventive Medicine http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
spellingShingle Original Article
Mathew, Varna
Akkilagunta, Sujiv
Kumar, Dinesh
Lakshminarayanan, Subitha
Kar, Sitanshu Sekhar
Effectiveness of Pedometer-Based Walking Program to Improve Physical Activity of Workers in a Software Industry: An Experimental Study
title Effectiveness of Pedometer-Based Walking Program to Improve Physical Activity of Workers in a Software Industry: An Experimental Study
title_full Effectiveness of Pedometer-Based Walking Program to Improve Physical Activity of Workers in a Software Industry: An Experimental Study
title_fullStr Effectiveness of Pedometer-Based Walking Program to Improve Physical Activity of Workers in a Software Industry: An Experimental Study
title_full_unstemmed Effectiveness of Pedometer-Based Walking Program to Improve Physical Activity of Workers in a Software Industry: An Experimental Study
title_short Effectiveness of Pedometer-Based Walking Program to Improve Physical Activity of Workers in a Software Industry: An Experimental Study
title_sort effectiveness of pedometer-based walking program to improve physical activity of workers in a software industry: an experimental study
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6528552/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31143423
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_378_17
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