Clinical trial NCT02124837: Intervention Study on Break Activities and Workers´ Psychological and Physiological Health & Performance
Official title: An Intervention Study to Investigate the Effect of Different Types of Break Activities on Workers´ Psychological and Physiological Health & Job Performance
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Exposure to Nature During Lunch Breaks
Relaxation Exercises During Lunch Breaks
Keywords: lunch breaks, recovery, nature, park walking, relaxation
Lead sponsor: Tampere University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2014-04-28
Enrollment: 200
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 70
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: FACTORIAL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: The objective of this research project is to understand and to improve workers´ recovery from work stress. Although recovery during lunch breaks is the most common within-workday break, it has received only minor research attention. Therefore, we will study whether lunch breaks including a relaxation session or exposure to nature have more favorable outcomes than usually spent lunch breaks concerning: a) recovery processes, b) health, c) well-being, d) job performance and e) creativity. We approach recovery by combining the theoretical frameworks of work and environmental psychology.

Detailed description: We conduct an intervention study in a sample of 200 knowledge-workers who engage in different lunch break activities for 15-minutes per day, two weeks in a row. We randomly assign participants to three experimental conditions: 1) exposure to nature, 2) relaxation and 3) control group (lunch break spent as usual). Online questionnaires before and after the intervention assess long term changes regarding recovery processes and the major outcome variables. Before, during and after the intervention, SMS and paper-pencil questionnaires measure the same constructs four times a day with fewer items. We also measure blood pressure and collect saliva samples to map cortisol excretion across the intervention period. A timed experimental task (i.e., the Alternative Uses Task) is used to examine differences in creativity between the three groups after the intervention period.

By combining the knowledge of work and environmental psychology about recovery and restorative experiences, by merging three recovery perspectives (settings, processes, and outcomes) and by using data triangulation, we produce valid results that broaden our view on mechanisms underlying recovery and enhance our understanding about their links to psychological, behavioural and physiological outcomes, resulting in a more comprehensive picture of work stress recovery in general.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Being able to speak and understand Finnish language
* Paid work for at least 24 hours per week

Exclusion Criteria:

* Shift work, highly irregular working hours
* Serious illness or allergies that prevent participants from walking in nature

Primary outcomes:
measure: Well-being
timeFrame: 7 weeks
measure: Job performance
timeFrame: 7 weeks
measure: Creativity
timeFrame: 7 weeks
measure: Health
timeFrame: 7 weeks
measure: Salivary cortisol
timeFrame: 7 weeks
measure: Blood pressure
timeFrame: 7 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Tampere
country: Finland
facility: University of Tampere
state: Pirkanmaa
Study officials:
affiliation: Tampere University
name: Ulla Kinnunen, Prof.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Tampere University
name: Kalevi Korpela, Prof.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: de Bloom J, Kinnunen U, Korpela K. Exposure to nature versus relaxation during lunch breaks and recovery from work: development and design of an intervention study to improve workers' health, well-being, work performance and creativity. BMC Public Health. 2014 May 22;14:488. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-488.