ADULT SEDENTARY BEHAVIOUR – NATSIHS (NON-REMOTE AREAS)
Definition
Sedentary behaviour was defined as sitting or lying down for various activities, including time spent sitting at work, and time spent sitting while using computers, watching television, and for other leisure activities.
Sedentary behaviour questions asked about the concept of a ‘usual day’ to define the timeframe for work/week days rather than referring to the last week.
Population
Information was collected for persons aged 18 years and over in non-remote areas in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS).
Methodology
This topic was collected as part of the NATSIHS adult exercise module. However, data collected in this section have not contributed to physical activity level calculations.
Full-time (35 hours or more) employed respondents were asked to specify how much time they spent sitting at work on a usual work day, including meal and snack breaks and time spent sitting at a desk or in a vehicle. This was followed by asking how much time in total they usually spend sitting while watching television or using a computer before and after work.
The rest of the respondents were asked the amount of time they spent sitting while watching television or using a computer on a usual week day.
All respondents were then asked the amount of time they spent sitting in other leisure time on a usual work/week day.
Data Items
The data items and related output categories for this topic are available in Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.
Interpretation
Points to be considered in interpreting data for this topic include the following:
- Sedentary data are not available separately for time spent in leisure on a usual work/week day due to the potential overlap of responses (e.g. persons may have reported the same activity for 'time spent sitting at the computer' and 'time spent sitting in other leisure time').
- Over recent years there has been an increasing focus by governments and media on health and lifestyle issues around obesity and low levels of activity. While such attention is likely to influence the levels of activity in the community, it may also have an impact on reporting behaviour; for example, creating a tendency to report what is perceived to be a desirable level of sedentary behaviour rather than the actual level.
Comparability with 2012-13 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NATSINPAS)
For information on sedentary behaviour data collected in the NATSINPAS, see the
Adult sedentary behaviour (NATSINPAS) topic page in this Users' Guide.
The NATSINPAS and NATSIHS adult sedentary behaviour data are not considered comparable primarily due to differences in reference periods (usual versus last week). In addition there are differences in the definition of sedentary behaviours, with NATSINPAS collecting data on sitting or lying down and NATSIHS collecting data on sitting, and NATSINPAS collects more prompted types of sedentary activities.
Comparability with 2004-05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS)
Sedentary data was not collected in the 2004-05 NATSIHS. Therefore no comparisons are possible.
Comparability with 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS)
Some sedentary data was collected in 2008 NATSISS, although focused on attendance at particular activities (such as attending movies, going to a cafe etc), rather than deliberately focusing on the sedentary aspect which involves sitting. The 2008 NATSISS data is also based on a 12 month timeframe rather than usual week/work day. Therefore no comparisons are considered possible.
Comparability with 2011-12 Australian Health Survey (AHS)
The questions asked in the 2012-13 NATSIHS were the same as those asked in the 2011-12 National Health Survey (NHS). The only difference was in the NHS, the applicable population for these questions was persons aged 15 years and over, rather than 18 years and over which was the population for this topic in the 2012-13 NATSIHS. When restricted to the 18 years and over population, the data are considered directly comparable between the 2011-12 NHS and the 2012-13 NATSIHS.
Similar to NATSIHS not being comparable to NATSINPAS, NATSIHS data is not comparable with 2011-12 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NNPAS) due to differences in the reference period as well as definitional and topic differences.
Print Page
Print All