Reducing sedentary behaviour in the workplace

Effectiveness of a gamified digital intervention based on lifestyle modification (iGAME) in secondary prevention: a protocol for a randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Combating physical inactivity and reducing sitting time are one of the principal challenges proposed by public health systems. Gamification has been seen as an innovative, functional and motivating strategy to encourage patients to increase their physical activity (PA) and reduce sedentary lifestyles through behaviour change techniques (BCT). However, the effectiveness of these interventions is not usually studied before their use. The main objective of this study will be to analyse the effectiveness of a gamified mobile application (iGAME) developed in the context of promoting PA and reducing sitting time with the BCT approach, as an intervention of secondary prevention in sedentary patients.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

A randomised clinical trial will be conducted among sedentary patients with one of these conditions: non-specific low back pain, cancer survivors and mild depression. The experimental group will receive a 12-week intervention based on a gamified mobile health application using BCT to promote PA and reduce sedentarism. Participants in the control group will be educated about the benefits of PA. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire will be considered the primary outcome. International Sedentary Assessment Tool, EuroQoL-5D, MEDRISK Instruments and consumption of Health System resources will be evaluated as secondary outcomes. Specific questionnaires will be administered depending on the clinical population. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, at 6 weeks, at the end of the intervention (12 weeks), at 26 weeks and at 52 weeks.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The study has been approved by the Portal de Ética de la Investigación Biomédica de Andalucía Ethics Committee (RCT-iGAME 24092020). All participants will be informed about the purpose and content of the study and written informed consent will be completed. The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and disseminated electronically and in print.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT04019119.

Unobtrusive monitoring of sedentary behaviors with fusion of bluetooth and ballistocardiogram signals

Intensive and lasting stress may induce severe damage to a human's physical and mental health. Successful stress management depends on the effective monitoring of people's everyday activities, in particular, their sedentary behaviors. Here, we propose an unobtrusive office sedentary behavior monitoring system that combines Bluetooth signals and ballistocardiogram (BCG) signals to classify an individual's sitting modes into four categories: off-seat, sedate, working, and in-motion. The proposed monitoring system simultaneously reads received signal strength indicators (RSSI) from several fixed Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons and BCG data from the piezoelectric sensor placed underneath the chair cushion, with distinct sampling frequencies. The raw signals are first denoised with local subspace projection. Then we extract the local spectral features from the reconstructed signal and the signal differences for a two-stage stacking learning algorithm. The temporally classified results establish a desk-based worker's sedentary profile and make possible the timely intervention of physical inactivity. We tested the prototype system for 15 subjects, and the preliminary results achieved 95% accuracy, demonstrating its potential in a real-world application.