Validation of the W@WApp + MetaWearC sensor to monitor occupational sitting, standing and stepping in office employees: validation study.

Abstract

Background:

Replacing occupational sitting time with active tasks has several proposed health benefits for office employees. Smartphones and motion sensors, can provide objective information in real time on occupational sedentary behaviour (SB) – a key determinant of health. However, the validity and feasibility of using mHealth devices to quantify and modify occupational sedentary time is unclear.

Objective:

To validate the new Walk@Work-Application (W@WApp) – including an external motion sensor (MetaWearC) attached to the thigh – for measuring occupational sitting, standing and movement in free-living conditions against the activPAL3M as a criterion measure. evices to quantify and modify occupational sedentary time is unclear.

Methods:

Twenty office-workers (80% female, 39.5±8.1 yrs.) downloaded the W@WApp to their smartphones, wore a MetaWearC attached to their thigh in a tailored band and wore the activPAL3M for three to eight consecutive working hours. Differences between the two measures were examined using the Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Associations between both measures were determined using the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients, while agreement between measures were presented using Bland-Altman plots.