Program implementation and effectiveness of a national workplace physical activity intervention: UPnGO with ParticipACTION.

INTERVENTION: UPnGO with ParticipACTION (UPnGO) is a 6-week workplace physical activity (PA) initiative aiming to increase habitual PA (steps) during the workday. Core intervention components included (1) self-monitoring of steps and action planning behaviours using a Web/mobile app with incentives and (2) organizational support, which included senior management's role modeling and endorsement of the program.

RESEARCH QUESTION: What is the effectiveness and levels of implementation of the UPnGO intervention? What is the relationship between effectiveness and levels of implementation?

METHODS: A single-arm, pre-/post-test study design was used. Participants were 660 employees from nine organizations who had valid step data and complete socio-demographic information at baseline. The primary outcome (mean daily steps) was assessed by Garmin VivoFit. Using the usage data from the UPnGO web-based system, a composite score for levels of implementation was calculated based on participant's compliance with the self-monitoring component and senior management's role modeling. Associations of interest were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models.

RESULTS: Levels of implementation were highly variable across organizations (mean = 68.22% ± 18.75, range = 19.8 to 100%). A significant Time × Implementation (IM) status interaction effect was observed. When stratified by IM status, a significant increase in mean daily steps at week 6 was found among participants in the high (β = 540.01 ± 202.69, p = 0.011) but not low (β = - 81.54 ± 291.96, p = 0.78) implementation group.

CONCLUSION: Findings suggest significant intervention effects in increasing average daily steps among participants who were exposed to optimal levels of implementation (~ 70%). UPnGO may be a scalable workplace PA intervention at a national level, although this needs further verification with more rigorous study designs.