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“Some People Sit, Some People Stand, That’s Just What We Do”: a Qualitative Exploration of Sit-Stand Desk Use in Naturalistic Settings

Deery, Elizabeth; Buckley, John; Morris, Michael; Kennedy, Lynne

Authors

Elizabeth Deery

Michael Morris

Lynne Kennedy



Abstract

Prolonged sedentary behaviour is associated with poor health. Office-based workers spend much of the working day sitting. Sit-stand desks have become a popular intervention, but real-life experiences of the value of sit-stand desks remain relatively unexplored outside of research-led interventions. A qualitative study was therefore undertaken to explore real-life experiences, including perceived barriers, and facilitators of using sit-stand desks. Six focus-group interviews were undertaken with a total of 34 desk-based employees in North-West England. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Three main themes emerged: The Sedentary Office, Motivators, and The Active Office. The Sedentary Office highlighted participants’ frustration with an increasingly sedentary office environment. Motivators to reducing sitting time were knowledge of the health consequences of prolonged sitting, previous (ill) health, and the potential benefits expected. The Active Office highlighted the importance of control, choice, enhanced interaction with colleagues, and the benefits associated with moving more and enhancing an overall sense of workplace wellbeing. Perceived benefits, facilitators, and barriers - experienced and observed – from sit-stand desk use in the real world were examined, thus contributing to important discussions of transferability. Overall, the study shed light on the perceived facilitators, benefits, and drawbacks of sit-stand desk work whilst also giving evidence of the real-world acceptability and research translation of sit-stand desk use. Future research should examine this in multiple contexts and should explore implications of an increasing prevalence in home working.

Citation

Deery, E., Buckley, J., Morris, M., & Kennedy, L. (in press). “Some People Sit, Some People Stand, That’s Just What We Do”: a Qualitative Exploration of Sit-Stand Desk Use in Naturalistic Settings. Occupational Health Science, 8(3), 505-531. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-024-00176-0

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 15, 2024
Online Publication Date Mar 11, 2024
Deposit Date Apr 9, 2024
Publicly Available Date Oct 16, 2024
Journal Occupational Health Science
Print ISSN 2367-0134
Electronic ISSN 2367-0142
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 8
Issue 3
Pages 505-531
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-024-00176-0
Keywords Qualitative, Active working, Occupational sitting, Sedentary, Sit-stand desk, Focus-groups
Public URL https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/792515
Publisher URL https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41542-024-00176-0
Additional Information Received: 18 July 2023; Revised: 8 February 2024; Accepted: 15 February 2024; First Online: 11 March 2024; : ; : All participants provided written informed consent to take part in the research. This research study was granted ethical approval by the University of Chester Faculty Research Ethics Committee (FREC reference number: 1203/16/EP/CSN).; : None declared.

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Licence
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Publisher Licence URL
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.






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