Factors influencing workplace physical activity interventions: a short review

Introduction: Many occupations are characterized by sedentary behavior (SB) and lack of physical activity (PA). There is growing evidence that prolonged sitting is associated with multiple health risks, including musculoskeletal disorders, biomarkers of increased cardiovascular diseases, some forms of cancer. There is an increasing interest in changing the work environment by implementing various interventions to reduce barriers and promote physical activity. The aim of this short review is to identify factors that affected workers’ SB and/or PA to design appropriate interventions. Methodology The search was performed based on PRISMA statement methodology and was conducted in Scopus for articles and reviews published in scientific journals from 2010 until 2019 in English, using a set of root keywords as “sedentary work,” “physical activity” and ”effectiveness intervention”. Results and discussion the review included 12 studies describing effective factors on PA in three categories: organizational factor, individual factor, and social factor. The main organizational factors found were: supportive workplace policies and resources, time for involvement in intervention, paying for activity, management support, work environment factors, and job type (passive jobs, and high-strain jobs). Interpersonal factors, knowledge include (educational level and information about physical activity guidelines) and some sociodemographic factors as individual factors associated with the physical work activity. Furthermore, social factors like social support and social norm have a significant effect on willing to do physical activity in workers. Some studies used “behavior change techniques” to find effective factors on physical activity for identifying the most appropriate interventions. Conclusion: Current evidence demonstrates that some individual, organizational and social factors influence work physical activity; therefore, they need to be considered in each population specifically, before choosing the intervention type. It can contribute to the increasing effectiveness of interventions intended to improve physical activity. Future research in this area should consider the association of various factors identified to enhance the effectiveness of interventions.