Preliminary results of a Survey assessing employees' attitudes towards active breaks

Purpose: Active breaks (ABs), defined as short bursts of physical activity (2–10 min), represents a useful strategy in work contexts to mitigate the negative health effects induced by sedentary behavior (SB). Despite the benefits, ABs have not yet gained full acceptance in the workplace. The aim of this multicentric study is to assess employees’ attitudes towards ABs in the workplace. Methods: An ad-hoc questionnaire, composed of responses on a Fivepoint Likert scale, was created. The survey was distributed via mail and advertisements to public and private employees across the Italian National country. Through principal component analysis (PCA), the large set of items (18) was reduced to four main domains: external perception, internal perception, effects of the sitting position, and practical possibility. These four domains were utilized to assess data concerning the following variables: age (B 45 years–[45 years), job type (public–private), prior knowledge of ABs (yes–no), and work method (on-site-remote–hybrid). Results: A total of 1019 questionnaires were collected: 260 (25.5%) from private workers, 759 (74.5%) from public workers. The sample was composed of: 72.2% females, 26.9% males, 0.9% prefer not to say. The mean age of subjects was 45 ± 11.64 years. For the practical possibility domain, individuals aged over 45 years reported a more positive attitude towards ABs (p = 0.001). For the external perception: public sector employees (p = 0.006), those familiar with ABs (p = 0.005), and those employing a hybrid work mode (p = 0.000) demonstrated more positive attitudes towards ABs. Conclusions: The preliminary results of this survey provide a better understanding of the employees’ attitudes towards ABs in the workplace, and suggest a strategy for the implementation of ABs in company policies to reduce SB.