Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
12-31-2022
Degree Name
Master of Science in Occupational Safety and Health Engineering - (M.S.)
Department
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
First Advisor
Arijit K. Sengupta
Second Advisor
Athanassios K. Bladikas
Third Advisor
Samuel Lieber
Abstract
Sedentariness has been proved to be a major cause of various health concerns. Given that a full-time college student in the US spends more than 15 hours per week sitting in a college classroom, it may be an ideal setting for implementation of Sit-Stand Desk (SSD) to reduce college students’ sedentary time. Graduate and undergraduate students (N = 178) of NJIT were randomly recruited to complete a need based online assessment survey. Participants' mean (SD) age was 22.4(4.7) years old, 63% identified as male, 33% identified as female while 4% were of the other gender class. Among the participants, 44.3% of students self-reported to be overweight or obese according to their BMI, 76% students led an inactive lifestyle, and 63.5% students did not meet physical activity guidelines. Students’ perceived acceptability of SSD in the classroom was strongly favorable. Over 70% students favored the opportunity of having a SSD in classrooms and most of the students (85% - 99%) predicted either no change or positive change (get better) in all academic factors (focus, restlessness, attention, engagement and boredom) and health factors (physical health, fatigue and back pain), if SSD in introduced in the classroom. Collectively, the findings of this study strongly support the acceptability of introducing standing desks in college classrooms. The results of this study should be useful for policy makers regarding classroom designs. Future studies are needed to test the viability and efficacy of introducing sit-stand desks in college classrooms.
Recommended Citation
Kuilan, Abiola, "Student perception on acceptability and usefulness of sit-stand desks in college classrooms" (2022). Theses. 2095.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/2095
