Purpose: The sedentary nature of office work is a growing concern. Researchers have studied various physical and mental health problems linked with sedentary behavior, and the World Health Organization ranks physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. There are clear health risks associated with sitting still, and benefits of moving more, yet sitting during office work has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic given new work from home policies. Intervention studies that incorporate sit-stand workstations and other environmental supports in the workplace (or at home) have only been scaled to real-world settings in a limited way. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an industry-informed perspective on approaches to reduce workplace sedentary time. The presenter is a wellness educator with 6+ years of industry experience and a vast knowledge of employee health and well-being, especially the promotion of workday physical activity and ergonomics. She has worked with clients in healthcare, education and office sectors to introduce healthy habits and create cultures where people can thrive.

Methods/results: This presentation will focus on four industry-informed strategies for implementing and scaling interventions in the workplace to reduce sedentary time: (1) create policies that set the intention from worksite leaders and give the program structure and backing; (2) select equipment and environmental supports that meet standards for safety, ergonomics, and compatibility; (3) educate employees on the many benefits of the program and how to participate; and (4) reiterate why and how to continue a work styles that promotes comfort and well-being. Key challenges that must be addressed throughout program implementation including promoting good working postures and mindfulness, helping make movement throughout the day a sustained habit, and continuing to change corporate culture to one that is supportive of less sitting and more standing and moving.

Conclusion: Implementing programs to reduce sitting in the workplace have the potential to improve health and support more productive and satisfied employees. To achieve this goal, programs must enact policies and education that promote changes in culture and education across the workplace.

Purpose: Sit-stand workstations are a fast growing employee benefit, yet evidence-based interventions are not being implemented to support their use. Our purpose to was evaluate effectiveness, implementation, and incremental cost benefit of an evidence-based workplace intervention to reduce sitting and increase light-intensity physical activity at work.

Methods: Stand & Move at Work (SMW) is a multicomponent, social-ecological behavioral intervention tested in 24 industry, government, and academic worksites (N=630 workers). The intervention was shown to reduce sedentary time, reduce body weight and improved chronic disease risk factors among those with high baseline risk, and reduce musculoskeletal pain.  In this symposium we will report on the design and rationale of an ongoing 2-arm group-randomized hybrid effectiveness-implementation (type 2) trial that tests the role of expert-based facilitation to enhance effectiveness and implementation of the SMW intervention. We used the Integrated - Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (iPARIHS) framework to inform our expert facilitation strategy through: (a) examining implementation outcomes from our efficacy trial; (b) conducting 35+ industry-based discovery interviews; and (c) piloting our enhanced implementation strategy in new worksites. We are recruiting 24 new worksites across the United States (N employees > 1200) and then randomizing worksites to 12 months of either: (a) SMW (web-delivered); or (b) SMW+ (web-delivered + expert facilitation). Our dual primary outcomes are reductions in sedentary time (measured with activPAL micro accelerometers) and intervention fidelity. We also assess incremental cost benefit of our interventions.

Conclusions: The potential health benefits of sit-stand workstations and associated worksite health promotion programs will not be realized in the workforce at large until we test the most effective and efficient way to implement evidence-based interventions. This project is among the first initiatives to address this growing trend in worksite health. Optimal strategies for delivering the SMW intervention will be identified and new knowledge will be generated on how facilitation can enhance implementation fidelity of workplace health initiatives, both of which will increase the public health impact of evidence-based interventions.

Purpose: The web-based BeUpstanding program was designed to provide work teams with a low cost/no cost intervention to address the emergent work health and safety issue of excessive sitting. This evidence-informed and world-first program supports a workplace champion to adopt, deliver and evaluate the 8-week program within their work team. In June 2019, a national implementation trial of BeUpstanding was initiated in Australia, addressing questions regarding uptake, delivery, effectiveness and cost. The purpose of this study is to report on selected uptake and effectiveness findings from the trial to date.

Methods: The trial is conducted in collaboration with workplace health and safety policy and practice partners with recruitment via partner-led referral pathways targeting desk-based work teams from across Australia. A single-arm, repeated measures design is used to examine the short-term (end-of-program) and long-term (9 months post-program) impacts. The self-reported data are collected through the online program via surveys and toolkit analytics and by the research team via telephone calls with champions. Indicators of uptake (number and characteristics of organisations, champions and staff) are described, while mixed models examining all evaluable staff were used to evaluate the impact on the primary effectiveness outcome (workplace sitting time as a percent of the workday).

Results: Preliminary findings show that of the 639 organisations who unlocked the toolkit, 136 were eligible for the trial with 102 (75%) consenting. Consents were from all 19 industries and from all state and territories across Australia. Champions (n=158) were typically female (75.3%) with the majority having an occupational health and safety role (67.1%) and experience in delivering health promotion programs (64.6%). A mix of senior management (45.6%), middle management (37.3%) and general employees (17.1%) took on the champion role. Workplace sitting time reduced significantly (-8.3% [95% CI -9.5%, -7.1%], p<0.001) in the 78 clusters who have completed their post-program evaluation (n=2561/4579 staff; response rate 56%).

Conclusions: These preliminary findings demonstrate that a “train-the-champion” approach can be successfully used across a broad range of industries and locations to help teams reduce workplace sitting. The implications of COVID-19 on the trial, and preliminary implementation findings will also be discussed.