Pilot Project Based on the Use of Wearable Devices to Assess the Impact of Stress in the Work Environment on the Quality of Life of Workers: Project SQoF-WEAR

Stress is a natural phenomenon within the human body that prepares the organism for action. However, due to the current life and work habits and demands, stress goes beyond what is beneficial and starts to suppose a burden. Nowadays, work stress, which is defined as "a harmful reaction, which people have to deal with, to the pressures and undue demands placed on them at work", has gained importance as it affects both health and productivity of workers. If stress persists over time, it can lead to the syndrome known as Burnout, which implies deep exhaustion, and inefficiency. In the last years, different wearable devices have started to be used to monitor stress at work with the aim of understanding their consequences on physical activity and sleep quality.

To establish whether wearable wristbands are devices capable of determining the work stress level of workers from a research center in Galicia. To this end, it will be determined the work stress level and quality of life of these workers to conclude if the devices measure the work stress with precision. Also, different physical activity, sleep and occupational functioning patterns will be identified to study the relation between them and the work stress level and quality of life.

Methods and Analysis: The study will be carried out with workers from a research center from Galicia, being this the only inclusion criterion. As for exclusion criteria, workers will not be allowed to participate if they are expected to retire in a period of 5 years or less, have significant health issues that hinder the participation in the study, or present skin hypersensitivity or allergic reactions caused by the materials the wristbands are made of.

This is a pilot study to determine the viability, sample size, cost, and duration of the study. Likewise, a pilot project has also been designed in this study in order to "demonstrate that the planned measurements, the data collection instruments and the data management system are feasible and effective". This is an observational, analytical, and longitudinal study. That is, in this study different variables of the population under study will be observed and recorded without intervention and with the aim of establishing causal associations between variables. It is considered longitudinal because variables will be followed for 6 months, continuously recording and monitoring physical activity and the quality of sleep (wristbands), and in a specific way, variables related to work stress, quality of life, and perception of the quality of sleep and the level of physical activity (specific evaluation tools).

As for the statistical analysis, and once the data are preprocessed, for the collected variables the Kolmogorov-Smirnov will be applied to check if they behave as a normal distribution. Otherwise, posterior analysis with non-parametric tests will be performed. The correlation of the numeric variables will be analysed through the Pearson or Spearman's Rho correlation depending on the sample distribution. A Chi-Square test will be used to assess the association between categoric variables unless the observed frequencies are <5%, for which a likelihood ratio test would be used. Regarding the association between quantitative and qualitative variables, the mean comparison with a T and ANOVA test, or a Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis test, as appropriate, will be performed. To finish, with the aim of determining whether there are significant differences between the results of the beginning, mid-term and final evaluations, a Wilcoxon test will be applied.