Socio-ecological Intervention to Promote Active Commuting to Work

NCT02250261 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 179
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,500
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

Background Cycling and walking to work is a natural way of increasing physical activity in a working population. However, the evidence on the effectiveness and cost savings of promoting active work commuting (ACW) is thin. This cluster-randomized, controlled study aims to promote ACW with environmental, social and behavioral strategies in two large workplace areas in Tampere, Finland. The paper de-scribes the protocol, evaluation and baseline findings of the study. Methods The enrollment of the workplaces took place in 2014-15. In Phase 1, the impacts of environmental strategies (improvements to the walking and cycling trails) were evaluated in Area1 including 11 workplaces. In Phase 2, five more workplaces were recruited from Area2 to evaluate the impacts of social and behavioral strategies accustomed for each workplace. The workplaces in both areas were then randomized into experimental (EXP, n=6+2) and comparison group (COM, n=5+3). EXP promoted ACW with social and behavioral strategies; COM participated in data collection only but will have the same support post-intervention. The primary outcome is the change in employees' self-reported and accelerometer-based ACW. The secondary outcomes include e.g. the changes in employees' self-rated health and subjective wellbeing at work, the change in the number of walkers and cyclists based on the traffic calculations and the change in the quality of walking and cycling trails based on camera auditing (Area1 only). External validity of the intervention is as-sessed with the compliance rates of the workplaces and employees as well as with the fidelity of the environmental, social and behavioral strategies. Health Economic Assessment Tool for Cycling and Walking (HEAT) is used to assess the cost savings of the multilevel intervention. In addition, environmental variables and types that promote ACW and mediate and moderate the effects of environmental strategies are examined. Results and discussion This study is one of the first in Finland to combine interdisciplinary collaboration between practi-tioners and researchers working in the fields of transportation, urban design, physical activity and sustainable development to promote ACW. The findings benefit all stakeholders interested in pro-moting ACW in urban context. The study will also produce supportive material for promoting ACW at the workplaces.

Conditions

Active Travel

Keywords

walking; cycling; intervention; physical activity; environment; promotion

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Change in self-reported means of transportation to work

  Proportion of employees walking or cycling to work (%)

  1 year

• Change in self-reported weekly AWC

  Mean number of days employees walk or cycle to work

  1 year

• Change in accelerometer-based daily duration of walking and cycling to work

  Daily minutes of AWC (mean)

  1 year

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Change in self-rated health

  1 year

• Change in subjective well-being at work

  1 year

• Change in restrictions to ACW

  1 year

• Change in motivation for ACW

  1 year

• Change in injuries due to ACW

  1 year

Other Outcomes (4)

• Cost-savings

  1 year

• Cost-effectiveness

  1 year

• Environmental evaluation

  1 year

Study Arms (2)

KÄPY group

EXPERIMENTAL

Workplaces, which are supported to promote employees' ACW.

Behavioral: KÄPY

Comparison group

NO INTERVENTION

Workplaces, which are not supported to promote employees' ACW but will be offered support to do so after the study.

Interventions

KÄPY BEHAVIORAL

KÄPY group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• All voluntary employees in the workplaces located in the specific area

Sponsors & Collaborators

• UKK Institute: lead
• Tampere University of Technology: collaborator
• Department of Transport and Streets, City of Tampere: collaborator
• Ecofellows Ltd, City of Tampere: collaborator
• University of Oxford: collaborator
• University of Graz: collaborator

Study Sites (2)

UKK Institute

Tampere, Pirkanmaa, 33500, Finland

Location

The UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research

Tampere, Pirkanmaa, 33501, Finland

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Aittasalo M, Tiilikainen J, Tokola K, Seimelä T, Sarjala S-M, Metsäpuro P, Hynynen A, Suni J, Sievänen H, Vähä-Ypyä H, Vaismaa K, Vakkala O, Foster C, Titze S, Vasankari T. Socio-Ecological Intervention to Promote Active Commuting to Work: Protocol and Baseline Findings of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Finland. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Oct; 14(10): 1257. Published online 2017 Oct 20. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14101257

  RESULT

Related Links

• Related Info

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Motor Activity

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Minna Aittasalo, D.Sc.

  UKK Institute

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Senior Researcher

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 23, 2014
• First Posted: September 26, 2014
• Study Start: August 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2017
• Study Completion: June 1, 2017
• Last Updated: October 9, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-10

Locations

FI (2)