Physical activity levels of allied health professionals working in a large Australian metropolitan health district - An observational study

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this observational cross-sectional study was to determine if allied health professionals working in a large metropolitan health district were meeting the minimal physical activity (PA) recommendations and the proportion that occupational PA contributed to the recommended PA levels. A secondary aim was to determine possible relationships between self-report questionnaire measures of PA and PA measured by accelerometry. Materials and methods: Allied health professionals, working in the Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) in 2016-2017, completed the Active Australia Survey (AAS), Occupational Sitting and Physical Activity Questionnaire (OSPAQ), International Physical Activity Questionnaire Long form (IPAQ-L), and wore the ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer for 7 days consecutively. Results: Based on accelerometry results, allied health professionals (N=126) spent a mean (SD) of 51 (23) minutes in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)/day, representing 171% of the total recommended MVPA/day, with work contributing 76% to this recommendation. Participants walked a mean of 10,077 (2,766) steps/day, meeting 100% of the recommended 10,000 steps/day, with work contributing 54% to this recommendation. Sedentary behaviors were predominant throughout the entire day and work day. Compared with the ActiGraph MVPA time measurements, AAS MVPA time showed a fair level of agreement [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)=0.44, P<0.01], while OSPAQ and IPAQ-L MVPA time showed no agreement (ICC=0.05, P=0.27; ICC=0.13, P=0.10, respectively). Conclusion: Allied health professionals working in a large metropolitan health district met the daily PA recommendations based on accelerometry measures but tended to overreport their MVPA on self-report questionnaires.