Health promotion through reduces sedentary time and increased adherence to reduced sedentary time in transition from working life to retirement

To spend a lot of time sitting is common among older adults and increases as we get older. Research shows that a lot of time in sitting is bad for our health. For many people, retirement is a major change in daily routines and can therefore be an advantageous time to change behaviours and reduce sedentary time. Changing one’s behaviour is difficult. It can be easier if, so-called self-management strategies are used. These self-management strategies can advantageously be conveyed through digital solutions and are then referred to as eHealth interventions. When new eHealth interventions are developed, it is important to include end users in the design process.

The aim of the project is to develop an eHealth intervention in co-production with older adults transitioning from working life to retirement to reduce sedentary time and promote adherence to reduced sedentary time. In addition, the aim was to test the eHealth intervention for feasibility and effectiveness.
The project uses participatory design and consists of four phases:

1. In the first phase, focus group interviews were conducted to explore perceptions among older adults transitioning from working life to retirement regarding self-management strategies to reduce sedentary time and increase adherence to reduced sedentary time.
2. In the second phase, we held workshops with older adults transitioning from working life to retirement to explore desired features of an eHealth intervention to reduce sedentary time. We also developed a digital prototype.
3. During phase three, five older adults transitioning to retirement tested the eHealth intervention for two weeks to evaluate its feasibility. Participants kept diaries and answered questionnaires about usability and how they experienced using the eHealth intervention and the researcher took field notes. Sedentary time was measured with an accelerometer before, during and after using the eHealth intervention.
4. Finally, we conducted a study with 42 participants to investigate whether the developed eHealth intervention reduced sedentary time. This study also used accelerometers to measure sedentary time. Participants answered questionnaires regarding body function and physical and mental health.

In this projekt, we found that self-management strategies to reduce sedentary time when transitioning to retirement should take into account the person's autonomy. They should not feel controlled, but free to reduce their sedentary time based on their own circumstances and interests. Positive affect such as joy were found to be important. Participants preferred strategies that involve filling the day with joyful activities and reported that emotional states influenced how receptive they were to testing strategies to reduce sedentary time. To reduce sedentary time, changes had to be made in everyday life and to make these changes, support was needed.

The workshops revealed that the participants saw a need for an eHealth intervention that contains several strategies to reduce sedentary time. It was considered important in which order these strategies are offered to the user. The workshops resulted in the eHealth intervention GAUdiS (which stands for, in Swedish, joyful activities facilitates reduced sedentary time). Gaudis consists mainly of two parts. One part for finding joyful activities and a tool for goalsetting and planning based on mental contrasting, a self-management strategy that has been tested on other health behaviors earlier.

The results regarding feasibility, usability and effect are currently being analyzed. The page will be updated with the results later.

Project objective

This health promotion project aims to facilitate for older adults to independently improve their health. This is done by developing an eHealth intervention where they can reduce their sedentary time through joyful activities when transitioning to retirement.