Naturally occurring workplace facilities to increase the leisure time physical activity of workers: A propensity-score weighted population study

Association between workplace health promotion service utilisation and depressive symptoms among workers: a nationwide survey

OBJECTIVES

Workplace-related factors are associated with the risk of depression. Despite implementation of workplace health promotion (WHP) programmes in China to promote the physical and mental well-being of workers, the relationship between WHP and depression has received limited attention. This study investigated the association between WHP service utilisation and depressive symptoms among workers.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional survey.

METHODS

A researcher-designed questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic and occupational characteristics, WHP service utilisation, and mental health status. The Lasso method was used for variable selection to achieve dimension reduction, and logistic regression was used to assess the association between WHP service utilisation and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

The analysis included 11,710 workers, of whom 17.0% had depressive symptoms. Lasso regression resulted in 6 of 18 WHP services showing significant negative associations with depressive symptoms, including occupational safety training, mental health services, health check-ups, sports activities, fitness rooms, and healthy canteens. The logistic regression results showed that, after adjusting for sociodemographic and occupational factors, utilisation of these six services was associated with a decreased likelihood of depressive symptoms. The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) was 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73-0.96) for occupational safety training, aOR: 0.82 (95% CI: 0.68-0.99) for mental health services, aOR: 0.80 (95% CI: 0.71-0.90) for health check-ups, aOR: 0.68 (95% CI: 0.57-0.80) for sports activities, aOR: 0.59 (95% CI: 0.47-0.74) for fitness rooms and aOR: 0.72 (95% CI: 0.59-0.87) for healthy canteens.

CONCLUSIONS

Utilisation of WHP services was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. Implementation of WHP services and the provision of a supportive workplace environment should be prioritised to benefit the mental health of workers.

Physical Activity Level and Social-Ecological Influence Factors in Chinese Information Technology Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective

Information technology (IT) population in China has expanded rapidly in recent decades, which has suffered severe health problems due to a lack of physical activity (PA). However, little is known about the influence and solutions of PA deficiency. The current research was designed to explore the associations between the amount of PA and potential influenced factors based on the social-ecological model (SEM) and thus to provide rationales for PA promotion.

Method

Six hundred and five IT professionals from five cities of China were surveyed in terms of PA in daily life as well as the potential PA influence factors based on SEM models that consisted of individual, interpersonal, environmental, and political levels in the current study. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of the potential PA influence factors and PA amount.

Result

About 54.7% of the sample did not fulfill the PA recommendation of 600 MET per week, and there are significant gender differences in PA participation. Factors related to the individual (self-efficacy and value recognition), interpersonal (social support), environmental (workplace and community environment), and polity-level factors (policy advocacy) were found to be significantly associated with Chinese IT professionals' participation in PA.

Conclusion

Numerous correlates from individual-level to political-level factors are all important predictors of PA. Exercise value recognition and self-efficacy accounted for much of the association. Environmental variables may further influence exercise behavior. Therefore, conducting intervention efforts for individual, interpersonal, environmental, and political change of Chinese IT professionals is recommended.

Workplace neighbourhood built environment and workers' physically-active and sedentary behaviour: a systematic review of observational studies

Background

Many desk-based workers can spend more than half of their working hours sitting, with low levels of physical activity. Workplace neighbourhood built environment may influence workers’ physical activities and sedentary behaviours on workdays. We reviewed and synthesised evidence from observational studies on associations of workplace neighbourhood attributes with domain-specific physical activity and sedentary behaviour and suggested research priorities for improving the quality of future relevant studies.

Methods

Published studies were obtained from nine databases (PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Scopus, Transport Research International Documentation, MEDLINE, Cochrane, Embase, and CINAHL) and crosschecked by Google Scholar. Observational studies with quantitative analyses estimating associations between workplace neighbourhood built environment attributes and workers’ physical activity or sedentary behaviour were included. Studies were restricted to those published in English language peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2019.

Results

A total of 55 studies and 455 instances of estimated associations were included. Most instances of potential associations of workplace neighbourhood built environment attributes with total or domain-specific (occupational, transport, and recreational) physical activity were non-significant. However, destination-related attributes (i.e., longer distances from workplace to home and access to car parking) were positively associated with transport-related sedentary behaviour (i.e., car driving).

Conclusions

The findings reinforce the case for urban design policies on designing mixed-use neighbourhoods where there are opportunities to live closer to workplaces and have access to a higher density of shops, services, and recreational facilities. Studies strengthening correspondence between the neighbourhood built environment attributes and behaviours are needed to identify and clarify potential relationships.

Protocol registration

The protocol of this systematic review was registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on 2 December 2019 (registration number: CRD42019137341).

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12966-020-01055-x.

Psychosocial risk factors at work associated with the level of physical activity among motorcycle taxi drivers

Objective: To analyze the association of psychosocial risk factors at work, sociodemographic, and occupational characteristics with the level of physical activity among motorcycle taxi drivers.Methods: Cross-sectional study with 750 male motorcycle taxi drivers from the municipality of Jequié, Bahia, Brazil. A form containing sociodemographic and occupational characteristics was utilized. The psychosocial risk factors at work were evaluated by the Job Content Questionnaire and the level of physical activity by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. The adjusted associations were analyzed by means of the Poisson regression with robust variance. Results: the prevalence of an insufficiently active level of physical activity was of 59.6%. The crude prevalence ratios (PR) showed an association between physical inactivity in motorcycle taxi drivers and high strain job (PR: 1.31), with 5 or more years of experience (PR: 1.67), in night shifts (PR: 1.36) and 40 or more years old (PR: 1.77). In the multivariate model, adjusted by income, work in high strain is kept associated to a situation of being insufficiently active (PR: 1.13), duration of employment of five or more years raised by 51.0% the frequency of insufficiently active physical activity (PR: 1.51) and the work in predominantly nocturnal shifts increased it by 26.0% (PR: 1.26). It is made evident that age was an effect modifier (p < 0.001) and its interaction was evaluated by including the corresponding product term (job Demand-Control model), which shows that the association between highly straining work and being insufficiently active was observed only among the youngest (21-39 years old) (PR: 1,21).Conclusions: the age and exposure to unfavorable working conditions, like long duration of employment, night work and work under high psychological demand and low control, have an influence on the insufficient physical activity among motorcycle taxi drivers.