Yoga for Stress Management in Health Care Personnel

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is to investigate if yoga can be an effective stress management technique for health care personnel.

Detailed Description
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Stress, both job related and personal, is an increasing problem in the health care sector. Yoga is said to have a good stress-reducing effect. The participants will provide blood, urine, and saliva samples. They will take part in two different stress tests. They will also fill in various qualitative questionnaires, including the Swedish questionnaire on health related quality of life (SWEDQUAL), Antonovsky's sense of coherence scale (KASAM), and the Job stress survey (JSS), both before the study starts and after 3 months of participation.

Official Title
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Yoga for Stress Management in Health Care Personnel and Its Relation to the Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal(HPA)Axis

Conditions
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Yoga, Stress, Psychological, Stress, Physiological

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Yoga as stress management
* Other: Rest without using any relaxation technique


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: BMI 18-30 healthy work in the health care sector Exclusion Criteria: medication, including contraceptives and all medications or topical skin preparations with cortisone in any form (exception: hormone replacement therapy for hypothyroidism were included if their hormone levels were within the normal range)

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Yoga as stress management<br>The intervention consists of following a program of yoga at least three times a week for three months. The yoga program has been designed to reduce stress. | Behavioral: Yoga as stress management<br>* Yoga specially designed to reduce stress is practiced for approximately 30 minutes at least three times a week for three months, once in a group session led by a trained yoga instructor and twice or more at home. The yoga techniques used are physical postures or movements, meditation and breathing exercises. Every time they do the techniques, participants fill in a form detailing how they feel before and after and providing information on the experience of doing the exercises.<br>* Other names: Meditation;|
| Active Comparator: Control group<br>The group rests without using any specific program for relaxation at least three times a week for three months. | Other: Rest without using any relaxation technique<br>* The participants rest at home at least 30 minutes, at least three times a week for three months and without using any relaxation technique<br>|
| Other: Yoga as stress management fewer tests<br>Eight persons participated in the same intervention as the experimental arm but did not undergo the full range of tests because they did not meet all the inclusion criteria for the study, most commonly because of medication use or body mass index. | Behavioral: Yoga as stress management<br>* Yoga specially designed to reduce stress is practiced for approximately 30 minutes at least three times a week for three months, once in a group session led by a trained yoga instructor and twice or more at home. The yoga techniques used are physical postures or movements, meditation and breathing exercises. Every time they do the techniques, participants fill in a form detailing how they feel before and after and providing information on the experience of doing the exercises.<br>* Other names: Meditation;|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reduced cortisol secretion |  | Three months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reduced stress measured by qualitative questionnaires (SWEQUAL, JSS, KASAM) |  | Three months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Yoga, Stress, Stress management, Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis