Personalized Stress Management With Application of Portable Devices in Occupational Populations

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Emotional Stress; Stress, Psychological; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases
• Interventions: Behavioral: The personalized interventions; Behavioral: The basic intervention

• Registration Number: NCT05239065
• Lead Sponsor: Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Brief Summary

Hospital setting is a stressful environment to the hospital staff due to work shifts, high level of responsibility, stressful challenging situations, as well as work and emotional pressures. The rate of burnout among hospital staff is high, as well as the risk of depression and suicide. The association between chronic work stress in hospital and the development of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular complications and cancer is well established. However, it is actually not easy for the hospital staff to establish a healthier life habit and stress management skills by themselves due to the busy work schedule and the lack of persistence of building up new habits. We hypothesized that conduction of the personalized stress management coaching with the assistance of portable device could be beneficial for the hospital staff to adopt a few healthy behaviors for daily practice, which could reduce stress and the related consequences. The current study will be conducted in two separate hospitals from Wuhan (China) with different intervention strategies and conduction teams. Each institution will recruit 200 participants and complete the full set of biographic information collections at recruitment. Clinical score evaluations, biosample collections as well as 24 h Holter monitoring will be both collected at the recruitment and after 3-month intervention phase. Tongji hospital will receive the active stress-management intervention; the health educator will group the participants together and provide on a weekly basis: stress knowledge and stress-related hazards online, stress management necessities and skills. Meanwhile, weekly data of exercises, cardiac health and sleep condition generated from HUAWEI portable devices will be summarized and sent to the participants together with personalized suggestions and encouragement by trained nurses. Participants from Tongji hospital will be involved in a social network to share their experience and gain insight from the discussions. Finally, they will also complete an electronic diary that covers elements of daily life and stress management activity. The Control institution will be Wuhan No1 hospital, the participants will receive minimum information regarding stress and stress management; they will not receive personalized intervention and will not be involved in group chat. They will be asked to fill in a simplified questionnaire biweekly. The outcome parameters will be the stress relief evaluated by clinical forms and questionnaires, heart rate variability (HRV) parameters, and the establishments of healthier life habits. The current study design would propose a novel strategic stress management plan for the hospital administrates in order to improve the hospital staff health.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-10-01
• Study First Submitted: 2021-12-13
• Status Verified: 2022-02
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-02-03
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-02-03
• Study First Posted: 2022-02-14
• Last Update Posted: 2022-02-14
• Primary Completion: 2022-07-01
• Study Completion: 2022-12-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 400

Inclusion Criteria

• Working as night-shift staff in Tongji hospital
• Need to keep this position for at least 6 months (no plan to leave)
• Selection will ensure a good balance of age and gender
• Willing to participate in the study and sign the consent form

Exclusion Criteria

• Planning to leave the hospital or the units for any reason
• Not a good medical condition or context for reliable follow-up
• Having a serious medical condition (for instance cancer, stroke)
• Living in a special life context that is source of stress

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Personalized stress management nursing coaching with application of portable device	The personalized interventions	Arm (Tongji Hospital) All the participants will receive a paper-printed brochure introducing stress and stress management strategies and the instruction of using HUAWEI portable device at the recruitment. During the 3-month intervention phase, multiple formats of stress and stress management knowledge educations will be sent by the health educator on weekly basis. The participants will have personalized stress management nursing coaching and assistance of building up new life habits, they will be also encouraged to submit a weekly questionnaire for self-evaluation. Finally, participants from Tongji hospital will be involved in a social network to share their experience anonymously and gain knowledge from the group chat.
Minimum information transfer and assistance of building up healthy life habits	The basic intervention	Arm2 (Wuhan No1 Hospital) - The participants will only receive a paper-printed brochure introducing stress and stress management strategies and the instruction of using HUAWEI portable device at the recruitment. There is no recurrent knowledge education, interpersonal communications, data feedbacks with the participants during the 3-month intervention phase.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale for sleep quality compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) includes 8 items and assesses the general level of daytime sleepiness. Scores range from 0-24 where higher scores indicate greater sleepiness. Following the developer's suggestion, a score greater than 10 was classified as high daytime sleepiness.
Change of the Chinese version of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS score) for evaluation of stress compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	Perceived Stress Scale (PSS score) assess the extent of feeling of nervousness and loss of control, including 14 questions. For each question, "1" for "Never", "2" for "Once in a while", "3" for "Sometimes", "4" for "Often", "5" for "Always". The total score is between 14-70.A higher score indicates a higher level of perceived stress.
Change of the frequency of applications of stress-relieving strategies compared to the baseline	Baseline (The first week of participating the program) , endpoint time point (The last week of participating the program), and every week between these 2 time points during the 3-month intervention	The frequency of applications of stress-relieving strategies, including daily physical activity, deep slow breathing activity, relaxation or mindfulness meditation, which would be conducted by the participants voluntarily, will be summarized on weekly basis.
Change of depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS score) for assessing stress, depression and anxiety compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-12) has been demonstrated to be a reliable and valid measure in assessing mental health in the Chinese population. Questions 3, 5, 10, 13, 16, 17 and 21 formed the depression subscale. The total depression subscale score was divided into normal (0-9), mild depression (10-12), moderate depression (13-20), severe depression (21-27), and extremely severe depression (28-42). Questions 2, 4, 7, 9, 15, 19, and 20 formed the anxiety subscale. The total anxiety subscale score was divided into normal (0-6), mild anxiety (7-9), moderate anxiety (10-14), severe anxiety (15-19), and extremely severe anxiety (20-42). Questions 1, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, and 18 formed the stress subscale. The total stress subscale score was divided into normal (0-10), mild stress (11-18), moderate stress (19-26), severe stress (27-34), and extremely severe stress (35-42).
Change of the Fatigue Scale (FAS) for evaluating fatigue compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	The Fatigue Scale (FAS) was used to measure total fatigue, and includes 10 items rated on a 5-point rating scale (1=never\~ 5=always). This scale has good reliability and content validity for measuring fatigue in a general or worker population.
Change of the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) for evaluating subjective global happiness compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) is a four-item measure of subjective global happiness rated on a seven-point Likert scale. A single SHS score is the mean of the responses to the four items. SHS scores can range from 1 to 7, where a higher score indicates a higher level of happiness.
Change of heart rate variability (HRV) parameters (frequency-domain analysis: VLF power, LF power, HF power) for assessing the autonomic nervous system compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	Heart rate variability (HRV) to assess the autonomic nervous system using different parameters from frequency-domain analysis (VLF power, LF power, HF power), all the units are "ms2". The participants will have 24 hr cardiac holter monitoring at the recruitment and the last day of 3-month intervention.; VLF (very-low-frequency) power: Absolute power of the very-low-frequency band (0.0033-0.04 Hz) (unit: ms2).; LF (low-frequency) power: Absolute power of the low-frequency band (0.04-0.15 Hz)(unit: ms2).; HF (high-frequency) power: Absolute power of the high-frequency band (0.15-0.4 Hz) (unit: ms2).
Change of trier work-stress scale (TICS-9 scale) for evaluating the sources of chronic stress in daily life compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	The Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress (TICS) is a standardized questionnaire for assessing nine interrelated factors of chronic stress from 9 dimensions: Work Overload, Social Overload, Pressure to Perform, Work Discontent, Excessive Demands from Work, Lack of Social Recognition, Social Tensions, Social Isolation, and Chronic Worrying. The TICS-9 is a short version of the original 57-item TICS. This version includes nine items reflecting all dimensions of the long version. The items can be rated from 0 to 5 (0 = never, 1 = rarely, 2 = sometimes, 3 = often, 4 = very often). Higher values suggest greater stress. Satisfactory psychometrics have been evidenced in several studies, with Cronbach's Alpha ranging from α = 0.88-0.91.
Change of heart rate variability (HRV) parameters (time-domain analysis:SDNN, SDNN index, SDANN index, RMMSD) for assessing the autonomic nervous system compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	Heart rate variability (HRV) to assess the autonomic nervous system using different parameters from time-domain analysis (SDNN, SDNN index, SDANN index, RMMSD), the unit for these parameters are all "millisecond". The participants will have 24 hr cardiac holter monitoring at the recruitment and the last day of 3-month intervention.; SDNN: Standard deviation of NN intervals, NN interval is the time (normalized) between two detected heartbeat detections. (unit: ms) SDANN: Standard deviation of the average NN intervals for each 5 min segment of a 24 h HRV recording. (unit: ms) SDNN index: Mean of the standard deviations of all the NN intervals for each 5 min segment of a 24 h HRV recording. (unit: ms) RMMSD: Root mean square of successive RR interval differences. (unit: ms)
Change of heart rate variability (HRV) parameters (time-domain analysis: pNN50) for assessing the autonomic nervous system compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	Heart rate variability (HRV) to assess the autonomic nervous system using different parameters from time-domain analysis (pNN50), the unit for these parameters are all "percentage %". The participants will have 24 hr cardiac holter monitoring at the recruitment and the last day of 3-month intervention.; pNN50: Percentage of successive RR intervals that differ by more than 50 ms. (unit: %)
Change of heart rate variability (HRV) parameters (frequency-domain analysis: LF/HF) for assessing the autonomic nervous system compared to the baseline	Baseline (at recruitment) and endpoint (the last day of 3-month intervention)	Heart rate variability (HRV) to assess the autonomic nervous system using different parameters from frequency-domain analysis (LF/HF), the unit is "percentage %". The participants will have 24 hr cardiac holter monitoring at the recruitment and the last day of 3-month intervention.; LF/HF: Ratio of LF(low-frequency)-to-HF(high-frequency) power.(unit: %).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change of the daily travel distance as evaluated by portable device compared to the baseline	Daily during the 3-month intervention (during the time of wearing the HUAWEI bracelet)	The participants will be encouraged to wear HUAWEI bracelet on daily basis to monitor the amount of exercise. The daily travel distance recorded by the bracelet will be summarized to reveal the difference along with the time of interventions.
Change of the total steps traveled daily as evaluated by portable device compared to the baseline	Daily during the 3-month intervention (during the time of wearing the HUAWEI bracelet)	The participants will be encouraged to wear HUAWEI bracelet on daily basis to monitor the amount of exercise. The total steps traveled daily recorded by the bracelet will be summarized to reveal the difference along with the time of interventions.
Change of medium-to-high level exercise time duration as evaluated by portable device compared to the baseline	Daily during the 3-month intervention (during the time of wearing the HUAWEI bracelet)	The participants will be encouraged to wear HUAWEI bracelet on daily basis to monitor the amount of exercise. The time duration of conducting medium-to-high level exercise recorded by the bracelet will be summarized to reveal the difference along with the time of interventions.
Change of the daily duration for wearing portable device compared to the baseline	Daily during the 3-month intervention (during the time of wearing the HUAWEI bracelet)	The participants will be encouraged to wear HUAWEI bracelet on daily basis. The daily duration for wearing HUAWEI bracelet will be summarized to reveal the difference along with the time of interventions to reflect the establishment of the habit of wearing portable device.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Tongji Hospital; 🇨🇳 Wuhan, Hubei, China