Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Latest NewsWellbeingOccupational Health

Psychologist toolkit to drive fitness study

by Nic Paton 21 Apr 2008
by Nic Paton 21 Apr 2008

Psychologists from Leeds University are helping motivate more than 1,000 workers to get fit in a work-based study into physical activity and health, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK.


Bus drivers, office staff and managers from three major employers have signed up to the trial run by a team from the university’s Institute of Psychological Sciences in partnership with the Health and Safety Laboratory, funded by a £300,000 grant from the Bupa Foundation.


The team recruited employees in sedentary jobs at Wrexham Council, a leading Yorkshire teaching hospital and the Leeds and York depots of transport business FirstGroup, where the trial is also being supported by trade union Unite.


Psychologist Dr Rebecca Lawton and her team found people’s number one obstacle to being active was time. The team has now developed a toolkit of materials to help people overcome barriers and encourage a change in attitude towards getting fit.


The toolkit includes a fridge magnet to help participants monitor their exercise as well as tips and hints to getting fit, such as challenging teams of employees to scale a virtual mountain by climbing stairs.


“We hope that the trial will help change the way people think about physical activity and that by working in groups with peer group support our participants and their employers will see real changes,” said Lawton.


Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

As part of the research, the Health and Safety Laboratory is carrying out health checks on all participants in the trial. In each workplace a number of employees are trained to support and encourage their colleagues using the specially designed toolkit.


It will compare changes in behaviour, health and work for employees using the toolkit with a comparable group of employees who are not receiving the same motivational methods.

Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consultant editor at Personnel Today. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for Personnel Today and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

previous post
Trade secrets: managing mental health at work
next post
All quiet on the Eastern front: can the UK continue to rely on talent from low-cost countries?

You may also like

Performance management is broken: how can we rebuild?

11 Jul 2025

Gregg Wallace case: don’t be too hasty to...

11 Jul 2025

‘Replace sick notes with gym’, Streeting tells GPs

11 Jul 2025

Workers with second jobs at an all-time high

11 Jul 2025

How using data can transform return-to-office mandates

11 Jul 2025

Ministers loosen fire and rehire proposals in Employment...

10 Jul 2025

£188k tribunal award for director sacked after cardiac...

10 Jul 2025

It’s no secret – parity in the workplace...

10 Jul 2025

Firms’ salary secrecy means ‘they lose out on...

10 Jul 2025

Court of Appeal rules that Ryanair agency pilot...

9 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today