Two Recovery Strategies at Work, Based on Mindfulness and Physical Exercise, on Levels of Job Stress (ERME)

Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

Status: Completed

Conditions: Mental Health Wellness

Treatments: Behavioral: Physical exercise; Behavioral: Mindfulness-based intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05086198

PID2019-110490RB-I00 (1)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The present study aims to compare the differential effects of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) and physical exercise (PE) on different stress and health variables by self-reports. A randomized controlled trial of three groups is proposed, with pretest, posttest and four follow-ups at 1, 2, 3 and 6 months that would be developed among the employees of two large multinationals.

Full description

Work and workplace related problems are common sources of stress. Work-related stress is associated with a decrease in productivity, greater absenteeism, accidents and injuries, mental illness, greater errors, and poor performance, among others, which involve significant financial costs. Therefore, it is crucial to find coping strategies that are effective in reducing such stress. Probably, the most appropriate strategies, for their real possibilities of implementation, for their easy execution, low cost and for the empirical support they have, are mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) and physical exercise (PE). Both types of practices have shown beneficial effects for physical health, mental health and psychological well-being in general. Different investigations have compared the implementation of MBI and PE, both combined and separately, with interesting results.

The main objective is to evaluate the interactive effects of group x time, the intragroup changes and the differences between groups, in the different moments (pretest, posttest, 1, 2, 3 and 6-months follow-up) on general health, stress, affective job satisfaction, recovery, work performance, and positive and negative affect in the three groups considered; an MBI, an aerobic PE program and an inactive control / waiting list (LE) condition will be contrasted.

The secondary objective is to evaluate the trend and linear patterns in the change trajectory in the three groups during the eight weeks of intervention on fatigue, psychological distancing, sleep, work stress, and attention.

A randomized controlled trial of three groups is proposed, with pretest, posttest and four follow-ups at 1, 2, 3 and 6 months that would be developed among the employees of two large multinationals (N ≥ 150).

The primary dependent variables considered are: 1) recovery experiences; 2) perceived stress; 3) general health; 4) affective job satisfaction; 5) individual work performance; and 6) positive and negative affects. The secondary dependent variables considered are daily states of: 1) fatigue, 2) psychological distancing, 3) quality of sleep; 4) work stress; and 5) attention.

Sociodemographic data will be collected at baseline (age, gender, level of education, number of economically dependent persons, type of contract, type of working day (split/continuous), workstation type, seniority in the organization, seniority in current position and teleworking modality).

The investigators identified two candidate covariates: 1) pharmacological treatment that can influence the psychological state (measured with two alternatives, use / non-use of anxiolytics, hypnotics and other psychotropic drugs); 2) Baseline state of stress and work stress (measured using a single item scale, Likert scale from 1 to 5, 1 being very low and 5 very high)

The intervention program is structured for 8 weeks, during which the two intervention groups will carry out their recovery strategy (IBM or EF), starting and increasing the practice 5 minutes every two weeks (weeks 1 and 2, 15 minutes; weeks 3 and 4, 20 minutes; weeks 5 and 6, 25; weeks 7 and 8, 30 minutes). The control group will continue as usual. Record will be taken of recovery strategies that workers perform naturally and spontaneously, and will be compared to strategies guided by interventions, as those the investigators propose.

The investigators believe that this study is a quasi-pioneering initiative because of its theme, uses a robust methodology, and will have an important scientific-technical impact. The importance of the topic addressed in terms of health and business productivity is associated with important contributions in terms of knowledge transfer to companies and society in general.

Enrollment: 181 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age from 18 to 65 years.
• To be a full-time worker (≥35 hours/week).

Exclusion criteria

• Currently practicing any type of meditation regularly.
• Currently practicing physical activity (aerobic or anaerobic) more than once a week.
• To have a physical or mental illness that prevents moderate exercise or mindfulness practice.
• Very low self-perceived work load and responsibility levels.
• Very low self-perceived stress and work stress levels.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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181 participants in 3 patient groups

Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI)

Experimental group

Description:

A 8-week mindfulness-based intervention. From 15 to 30 minutes of practice per session, three times/week through audio guided meditations.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness-based intervention

Physical exercise (PE)

Active Comparator group

Description:

A 8-week physical exercise intervention. From 15 to 30 minutes of practice per session, three times/week through workout videos.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Physical exercise

Wait list (WL)

No Intervention group

Description:

The participants will continue their work activity as usual. This arm will receive one of the two previous interventions once the study finished.