2021 Volume 23 Issue 1 Pages 57-69
Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether male staff members’ physical activity increased and whether it was maintained by an intervention using the teaching materials we created.
Methods: The teaching material was created by us in collaboration with the Art and Design Department, University of Tsukuba. Players were required to increase the amount of physical activity in order to gain an advantage in a certain game. The subjects were 11 male staff members aged 24 to 48 years, with median age 34.0 years (interquartile range = 33.5, 39.5 years) from the regional university and the regional university hospital. The intervention game was played for six weeks, 4 times (1 time / 2 weeks, 30 minutes / 1 time). The period of two weeks before the intervention was chosen as the baseline period, and the 12 weeks after the intervention as the carry-over observation period for the intervention effect. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, an intervention group and a control group, but the effects of changes in physical activity in the control group were not reflected in the game. We distributed a 3-axis accelerometer to all the subjects to measure their physical activity.
Results: In the comparison between the groups with moderate and vigorous intensity activity time (median), the change during the intervention period was +1.6 minutes / day in the intervention group compared with +0.2 minutes / day in the control group. Regarding changes over time, the rate of change 12 weeks after the intervention was +48% in the intervention group and +10% in the control group compared to the baseline period.
Conclusion: Physical activity levels of male staff members can be increased by an intervention using our teaching material and may be maintained over the medium term after the intervention.
