Effects of a short residential thermal spa program to prevent work-related stress/burnout on stress biomarkers: the ThermStress proof of concept study

Objective Work-related stress is a public health issue. Stress has multiple physical and psychological consequences, the most serious of which are increased mortality and cardiovascular morbidity. The ThermStress protocol was designed to offer a short residential thermal spa program for work-related stress prevention that is compatible with a professional context. Methods Participants will be 56 male and female workers aged 18 years or above. All participants will undergo a 6-day residential spa program comprising psychological intervention, physical activity, thermal spa treatment, health education, eating disorder therapy and a follow-up. On six occasions, participants’ heart rate variability, cardiac remodelling and function, electrodermal activity, blood markers, anthropometry and body composition, psychology and quality of life will be measured using questionnaires and bone parameters. Results This study protocol reports the planned and ongoing research for this intervention. Discussion The ThermStress protocol has been approved by an institutional ethics committee (ANSM: 2016 A02082 49). It is expected that this proof of concept study will highlight the effect of a short-term specific residential thermal spa program on the prevention of occupational burnout and work-related stress. The findings will be disseminated at several research conferences and in published articles in peer-reviewed journals. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT 03536624, 24/05/2018)

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Effectiveness of Workplace Yoga Interventions to Reduce Perceived Stress in Employees: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology ◽

10.3390/jfmk5020033 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 33 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Elisabetta Della Valle ◽

Stefano Palermi ◽

Irene Aloe ◽

Roberto Marcantonio ◽

Rocco Spera ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Perceived Stress ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Public Health Issue ◽

Control Group ◽

Work Related Stress ◽

Yoga Intervention ◽

Work Related ◽

Solution Strategies ◽

Related Stress ◽

Reducing Stress

Work-related stress represents a relevant public health issue and solution strategies are mandatory. Yoga is a common approach to manage stress and its effectiveness has been extensively confirmed. Therefore, this study aims systematically to review the effectiveness of Yoga interventions carried out at workplace on work-related stress among employees and to assess their impact quantitatively. Springerlink, MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane CENTRAL and PEDro databases were searched. Clinical trials comparing workplace Yoga interventions to control groups, and evaluating perceived stress as outcome measure, were assessed for eligibility. All forms and styles of Yoga were considered for the analysis. Out of 3392 initially identified, 6 studies were included in the meta-analysis; 266 participants practicing Yoga interventions at worksite were compared to 221 subjects in control group. Included studies showed “some concerns” about different domains of source of bias. Quantitative analysis showed an overall effect size of −0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI): −0.86, −0.49] in favor of Yoga intervention in reducing stress outcome measures. Hence, workplace Yoga interventions were more effective when compared to no treatment in work-related stress management. Further high-quality studies are needed to improve the validity of these results and to specify more characteristics of the Yoga intervention, such as style, volume, and frequency.

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