Wolfswinkel, E.J.W. (2021) Activity Affording Furniture Invites Sitting in Different Postures during Desk-based Work in the Classroom. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Introduction Children spend a great part of their day at school, with most of this time being sedentary. High levels of sedentary time are associated with negative health outcomes, such as premature mortality and musculoskeletal complaints. Activity affording furniture may be helpful to break up prolonged sitting in one posture. In this study, four different types of Stools (Archer, Rider, ROM and Squat), designed to invite working in multiple postures, are tested in the classroom. Methods Seventeen children were recruited from the 3rd and 4th grade of elementary school. Movement behaviour (i.e. adopted postures, postural changes, time in dominant posture, standing time), academic engagement (i.e. time on task, D2 test of attention), and user experience are evaluated in two controlled testing sessions of 30 minutes in which the children worked on school tasks using a regular chair and the Stool of their choice. Results After trying out all the Stools in the classroom most children indicated that they ill-favoured their regular chair and preferred to use the ROM. In line, the majority of the children selected the ROM during the test session (n=12). Sitting on the ROM led to an increase in active sitting behaviour compared to the regular chair: more postural changes (p=.007), a greater variety of postures (p=.003), less time spend in the dominant posture (p=.019), and increased standing time (p=.005). No significant decrease in academic engagement was found when using the new furniture. Conclusion The new activity affording furniture design is an interesting alternative to the conventional chair, that arguably has positive effects on children’s health and well-being in the classroom.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Caljouw, S. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 16 May 2022 07:59 |
| Last Modified: | 16 May 2022 07:59 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3330 |
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