A Qualitative Study of the Feasibility and Acceptability of Implementing ‘Sit-To-Stand’ Desks in Vocational Education and Training

Mara Kirschner, Rianne H.J. Golsteijn, Sanne M. Sijben, Amika S. Singh, Hans H.C.M. Savelberg and Renate H.M. de Groot
Additional contact information
Mara Kirschner: Faculty of Educational Sciences, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419 AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
Rianne H.J. Golsteijn: Faculty of Educational Sciences, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419 AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
Sanne M. Sijben: Faculty of Educational Sciences, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419 AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
Amika S. Singh: Mulier Institute, 3584 AA Utrecht, The Netherlands
Hans H.C.M. Savelberg: Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, School of Health Professions Education (SHE) and School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (NUTRIM), FHML, Maastricht University, 6229 GT Maastricht, The Netherlands
Renate H.M. de Groot: Faculty of Educational Sciences, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419 AT Heerlen, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: While it has been shown that interrupting a person’s sedentary behaviour has the potential to improve cognitive, physical and mental health, a large part of time that students spend in school is sedentary. As research has shown that approximately 80% of vocational education and training (VET) students have an unhealthy sedentary lifestyle, implementing “sit-to-stand” (StS) desks could interrupt sedentary behaviour and promote healthier behaviour. Therefore, the acceptability and feasibility of using such desks in the VET setting should be investigated. Using semi-structured focus group interviews analysed via deductive content analysis, the opinions of 33 students for the following topics were assessed: (1) usage of the standing option of the desks (2) reasons for standing in class (3) experienced effect of standing behind the desk, and (4) fostering future StS desks usage. Although VET students are aware of the potential benefits of using StS desks, they need to be actively stimulated and motivated by teachers to use them. In addition, time is needed to get into the habit of standing. Thus, for successful implementation of StS desks in the VET setting, all stakeholders (i.e., students, teachers, schoolboards) should be actively involved in stimulating the healthy behaviour of VET students.

Keywords: qualitative research; sit-to-stand desks; vocational education and training; sedentary behaviour; focus group interviews (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/3/849/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/3/849/ (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:18:y:2021:i:3:p:849-:d:483450

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 ().