Step it up! Determining the impact of a national workplace walking challenge on physical and cognitive health and well-being

As it stands, the research will begin with a systematic review, poised with the research question - 'What is the effect of workplace-based physical activity interventions on physical, mental and cognitive wellbeing?'. The inclusion criteria for which have been set and the review process is due to commence shortly.

The experimental procedures are in the planning phase, with the plan currently involving four elements; one of which will be a general overview of Step Count Challenge (SCC) participants' physical fitness, mental wellbeing and cognitive functioning, consisting of short, simple, self-assessed tasks, to be completed before and after SCC participation; the other 3 elements of the research will investigate each component in more depth, as explained below.

Physical Fitness -

The current plan to assess whether SCC participation has an effect on physical fitness is to carry out two forms of test at 3 time points throughout the intervention (Start (Week 1), Middle (Week 4), End (Week 8)), with a group of both SCC participants, and non-participants. The tests used are likely to be the Rockport One-Mile Walk test and the Two-minute step test. The Rockport One-Mile walk has been shown to be a reliable alternative to VO2 Max tests and fits naturally with the nature of the SCC. While the two-minute step test is less rigorous, it is still shown to have high validity, and its inclusion within this branch of the research allows for greater homogeneity with the 'overview' previously mentioned, as this will also be the test applied at this stage. This element of the research should allow comparisons both 'within' participants ('Before and After' SCC participation) as well as between participants (SCC vs Non-SCC participants).

Mental Wellbeing -

For mental wellbeing, the desire is to utilise the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, asking SCC participants to complete the scale once a week throughout the eight-week intervention. This will enable not only the tracking of the scores based on participation each week, but also analysis to be conducted assessing the relationship between mental wellbeing and total step count in a week.

Cognitive Function -

There are two planned elements to this branch of the research. The first takes a similar design to that of mental wellbeing, with participants completing a cognitive assessment once a week (or each fortnight) and the results being assessed in comparison to weekly step counts. Though, the second part of the cognitive function element of the research specifically investigates the effect that physical activity has on episodic memory. The initial plan for this will be to set out a 'trail' for participants, with a certain path, and at various stages there will be information provided, that they must read and remember. Once the trail is complete, participants will be shown an image of the location of an information card, and they should recall the respective information in that location. This be compared between those of 'high' and 'low' physical activity levels, and also SCC vs Non-SCC.