The effectiveness of the 10,000 Steps Workplace Challenge to increase physical activity

Physical inactivity is an important public health issue which impacts on many facets of health at an individual level and within a workplace. The Queensland based, 10,000 Steps Workplace Challenge has been widely adopted, but its effectiveness within an office workplace has not been formally evaluated. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the 10,000 Steps Workplace Challenge to increase physical activity. A 6-week team-based, intervention that required team-members to record their daily steps on the 10,000 Steps website. Participants (n = 141) were randomised into an Immediate Start group or a Delayed Start group (which only gained access to the intervention after 6-weeks). Physical activity was measured using the Active Australia Survey at baseline, 6-, 12- and 36-weeks. Generalised linear mixed models were used to analyse the data. It was established that there was no difference between the groups at 6-weeks (OR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.49-1.60, p = 0.889). However, within the Immediate Start group, compared to baseline the proportion of participants achieving sufficient physical activity increased at 6-weeks (OR = 2.20, 95% CI = 1.25-3.86, p = 0.007) and 36-weeks (OR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.05-3.50, p = 0.035), but not at 12-weeks (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 0.90-2.74, p = 0.113). The 10,000 Steps Workplace Challenge demonstrated that physical activity increased within the Immediate Start group. However, due to physical activity increases in the Delayed Start group prior to the commencement of the intervention, it is not possible to determine if this increase was due to the intervention or other factors.