2022 Volume 30 Issue 3 Pages 230-239
Objective: In this study, a promotion program was examined to improve the walking habits of working individuals. Thus, a trial program was implemented at a private company to evaluate the outputs and outcomes. Its potential to serve as content for workplace health promotion (WHP) was investigated.
Methods: The intervention was performed at Company A, a car transportation company (approximately 230 employees) for a period of 3 months from April through July 2018. The study design was an open-label, single-arm, before-and-after study. In the study, the following measurements were performed twice, once before and once after the intervention: physical examination, body composition, blood pressure, visceral fat area, stand-up test, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) survey, and gait test. During the intervention, daily walking habits, such as number of steps and speed, were monitored by having the test participants wear a tri-axial accelerometer. The before and after measurement results and the monitoring data from 173 participants were used for analysis.
Results: The study showed that the effective usage rate of the accelerometer was 93.5%, and the overall program’s persistency rate was 81.2%. Walking habits and the values of metabolic syndrome-related indicators improved significantly. No significant differences in locomotive syndrome and HRQOL were observed between the before- and after-intervention periods. In the group with an average of at least 8,000 steps, the gait speed and step length during the program significantly improved, and the abdominal circumference and the visceral fat area after the intervention were within the normal ranges for obesity and metabolic syndrome diagnostic criteria.
Conclusion: The program was implemented with a persistency rate of over 80%, suggesting that the values of health-related indicators can be improved by increasing the quality in addition to the quantity of walking. The program tested in this study has the potential to serve as content for WHP programs.
