Influence of psychosocial work environment and individual exercise beliefs on adherence to workplace exercise

Introduction
Workplace physical exercise intervention can reduce the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, but adherence to exercise is challenging for many employees. Knowledge of prognostic factors for adherence is important for optimally implementing exercise at the workplace. This study determines the influence of psychosocial factors and individual exercise beliefs on adherence to workplace exercise.

Methods
In Copenhagen, 132 employed office workers with frequent neck/shoulder pain (mean: age 43 years, 88% women, pain intensity 5.2 on a scale of 0-10) participated in a 10-week workplace exercise intervention. Participants replied to a questionnaire at baseline, and registered exercise sessions in a log during the subsequent 10 weeks. Low, medium, and high adherence was defined as performing less than one, one to three, and more than three exercise sessions per week. Odds ratios (OR) for adherence as a function of psychosocial work environment and exercise self-efficacy were modeled by cumulative logistic regression controlled for gender, age and severity of neck/shoulder pain. 

Results
Adherence to the 10-week exercise program was predicted by psychosocial work environment (poor vs. good: OR 0.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.12 to 0.63) and exercise self-efficacy (medium vs. high: OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.52) (low vs. high: OR 0.08, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.26). 

Discussion
Poor psychosocial work environment and low to medium exercise self-efficacy result in lower adherence to workplace exercise. Thus, concurrent strategies to improve these factors should be considered when implementing exercise at the workplace.