The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Student perception on acceptability and usefulness of sit-stand desks in college classrooms
Author:	Kuilan, Abiola
View Online:	njit-etd2022-069 (ix, 29 pages ~ 0.4 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Occupational Safety and Health Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Sengupta, Arijit K. (Committee chair) Bladikas, Athanassios K. (Committee member) Lieber, Samuel (Committee member)
Date:	2022-12
Keywords:	Sedentariness Sit-stand desks
Availability:	Unrestricted
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.