Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy of an m-Health Intervention Targeting Physical Activity, Diet, and Sleep Quality in Shift-Workers

Stina Oftedal, Tracy Burrows, Sasha Fenton, Beatrice Murawski, Anna B. Rayward and Mitch J. Duncan
Additional contact information
Stina Oftedal: School of Medicine & Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Tracy Burrows: Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Sasha Fenton: School of Medicine & Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Beatrice Murawski: School of Medicine & Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Anna B. Rayward: School of Medicine & Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Mitch J. Duncan: School of Medicine & Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-18

Abstract: Poor health behaviors are prevalent in shift-workers, but few multiple health-behavior interventions consider their unique needs. This study aimed to (1) evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of an existing app-based intervention to improve physical activity, diet, and sleep quality in a shift-worker population, (2) estimate intervention effect in a four-week pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) (ACTRN12618001785291). Shift-workers (18–65 years old) were randomized to intervention ( n = 20) or wait-list ( n = 20) groups. Outcomes included recruitment, engagement, attrition, usefulness ratings, System Usability Scale (SUS), qualitative interviews, and estimation of treatment effect (minutes of physical activity, diet quality, and sleep quality) using mixed model analysis. Recruitment took one week. App-use at week four was 55% (11/20), 85% (34/40) completed the four-week follow-up questionnaire, and 20% (4/20) of the intervention group completed the qualitative interview. The intervention was rated as slightly to moderately useful by 76.9% (10/13) of participants on a five-point scale. The SUS score was 62.7 (12.7) out of 100. Diet quality improved for the intervention (4.5 points; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.1, 8.9; p = 0.047) vs. the wait-list group, but not physical activity or sleep quality. Qualitative interviews found that a more tailored intervention, more accessible information, and interactive features were desired. The intervention was feasible in terms of recruitment, but modifications to increase engagement are needed.

Keywords: multiple lifestyle behaviors; health promotion; nutrition; behavior change; resistance training; exercise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/20/3810/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/20/3810/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:20:p:3810-:d:274761

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().