Abstract
Walking Works Wonders (WWW) is a workplace intervention designed to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour. WWW involves tailoring health information according to employees’ readiness for change. The approach recognises that when attempting to motivate behaviour change, success is greater when interventions align with recipients’ attitudes and beliefs. The impact of the tailored approach was investigated by comparing tailored interventions with standard conditions and control groups in a 24-month longitudinal study in 10 worksites across the UK. Employees who received either a standard or tailored intervention demonstrated significantly higher self-reported work ability and improved organizational commitment, job motivation, job satisfaction, and a reduction in intention to quit the organization. The tailored interventions significantly reduced BMI and waist circumference compared to standard and control conditions. Workplace health interventions designed to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour are likely to be more effective where the information is tailored to employees’ readiness to change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Conn VS, Hafdahl AR, Cooper PS, Brown LM, Lusk SL (2009) Meta-analysis of workplace physical activity interventions. Am J Prev Med 37:330–339
Allender S, Foster C, Scarborough P, Rayner M (2007) The burden of physical activity-related ill health in the UK. J Epidemiol Commun Health 61:344–348
Kazi A, Duncan M, Clemes S, Haslam C (2014) A survey of sitting time among UK employees. Occup Med 64:497–502
Abraham C, Graham-Rowe E (2009) Are worksite interventions effective in increasing physical activity? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychol Rev 3:108–144
Prochaska JO, DiClemente CC (1982) Transtheoretical therapy: toward a more integrative model of change. Psychother Theor Res Pract 19:276–288
Prochaska JO, DiClemente CC (1983) Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: toward an integrative model of change. J Consult Clin Psychol 51:390–395
Haslam C, Haslam R (2001) A stage specific approach to improving occupational health and safety. In: Hanson MA (ed) Contemporary ergonomics 2001. Taylor & Francis, London, pp 171–176
Haslam RA (2002) Targeting ergonomics interventions – learning from health promotion. Appl Ergon 33:241–249
Whysall ZJ, Haslam C, Haslam R (2006) A staged approach to reducing occupational ill health. Prev Med 43:422–428
Kazi A (2013) Promoting physical activity in the workplace: a stage of change approach. Ph.D. thesis, Loughborough University
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Haslam, C., Kazi, A., Duncan, M., Twumasi, R., Clemes, S. (2019). Walking Works Wonders: A Workplace Health Intervention Evaluated Over 24 Months. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 824. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96071-5_161
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96071-5_161
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96070-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96071-5
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)