Research report: Perspectives on intervention strategies for influencing physical activity and sedentary behavior among Ethiopian office workers: a qualitative study

Stakeholders in Hawassa, Ethiopia, proposed nine strategies for helping office workers increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior, combining personal support with workplace policies, reminders and health-service connections. The qualitative study identified five individual-level approaches and four system-level approaches, showing how participants thought movement-related health could be addressed both in employees’ daily lives and within the organizations where they work. The research was motivated by the rising burden of noncommunicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries, including Ethiopia, and the need for locally relevant interventions addressing modifiable risk factors.

The authors identified low physical activity and high sedentary behavior as targets for public-health action. They also noted that little was known about which intervention strategies could be both effective and feasible for changing these movement behaviors among Ethiopian office-based employees. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 33 participants in Hawassa, in southern Ethiopia.

The group included office workers, noncommunicable disease program coordinators and exercise coaches, providing perspectives from employees as well as people involved in health promotion. Participants were asked to suggest strategies and support systems that could increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior among office-based employees. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English.

The researchers coded the material and analyzed it using reflexive thematic analysis. In their results, the authors interpreted the identified strategies through two frames: individual-level, or “i-frame,” approaches and system-level, or “s-frame,” approaches. This framework separated proposed changes in knowledge, skills and personal action from proposed changes involving organizations, workplace practices and public-health services.

Five themes concerned individual-level strategies. Participants suggested educational support intended to raise awareness about physical activity and sedentary behavior. They also proposed personalized follow-up support and support for developing physical-exercise skills.

Two further themes focused on promoting walking and regular moderate-to-vigorous physical activity as ways to increase total daily physical activity. These ideas were reported as themes emerging from stakeholders’ accounts, rather than as interventions whose effectiveness was measured in the study. Four system-level themes addressed the setting in which office employees work.

Participants identified organizational support as an important element, alongside practical workplace health-promotion policies and initiatives. Another theme concerned office reminder messages intended to prompt movement during the working day. The final system-level strategy was to integrate behavioral interventions with noncommunicable disease prevention and screening services, connecting workplace activity initiatives with existing health-program structures.

The individual-level proposals ranged from awareness and exercise skills to walking and follow-up, while the system-level proposals ranged from workplace policies and reminders to integration with disease-prevention services. The authors’ central interpretation was that combining individual and system-level strategies is important when designing interventions intended to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior in Ethiopian office settings. The findings describe stakeholder perspectives rather than measured intervention outcomes.

Because the research was qualitative, it did not assign participants to an intervention, compare the nine strategies, or demonstrate changes in physical activity, sedentary time or clinical outcomes. The sample also combined office workers with program coordinators and exercise coaches, so its results represent a stakeholder group rather than office workers alone. The authors concluded that the identified approaches can inform locally relevant intervention design, but the research itself does not show how any proposed strategy performs when implemented.

Subject of Research: Stakeholder perspectives on physical-activity and sedentary-behavior interventions for Ethiopian office workers

Article Title: Perspectives on intervention strategies for influencing physical activity and sedentary behavior among Ethiopian office workers: a qualitative study

Article References: Negussie, A., Clark, B., Addissie, A., Worku, A., & Girma, E. (2026). Perspectives on intervention strategies for influencing physical activity and sedentary behavior among Ethiopian office workers: a qualitative study. Journal of Activity, Sedentary and Sleep Behaviors. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44167-026-00119-w

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s44167-026-00119-w

Keywords: physical activity, sedentary behavior, Ethiopia, office workers, workplace health, qualitative study, stakeholder perspectives, intervention design, noncommunicable diseases, Hawassa, Perspectives, intervention