One of the first trials examining the efficacy of a brief preventive recovery training program in a sample of distressed employees.
•Preliminary results suggest that employees across a wide range of professions could learn to recover, reduce stress, and improve quality-of-life.
•This type of accessible and brief recovery intervention might shape the future of workplace stress prevention, however, more research is needed.
AbstractIntroductionThis randomized, controlled pilot trial evaluated the efficacy of a brief internet-based recovery training intervention targeting a clinical sample of distressed employees.
MethodA sample of 69 employees with elevated symptoms of stress were assigned randomly to a five-week guided recovery training intervention (iRTP, n = 35) or a wait-list control (WLC, n = 34). The study was conducted in Sweden and participants enrolled via an open recruitment strategy. Self-report data were collected pre- and post-intervention, then six and 12 months after the intervention. The primary outcome measure was the Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ. The secondary outcome measures gauged other relevant mental and work-related health outcomes. Participants in the wait-list control group received access to iRTP after the six-month follow-up.
ResultsCompared with the controls, participants in the intervention group showed a significant and large overall improvement on the primary outcome REQ (d = 0.93), and small to moderate effects on the secondary outcomes including, perceived stress (d = 0.48), anxiety (d = 0.49), quality of life (d = 0.47), and work ability (d = 0.47) during post-assessment. No significant differences were found at any time point regarding burnout, exhaustion, depression, physical exercise, work experience, or sickness absences.
ConclusionThis pilot trial is one of the first to examine a brief recovery training program's efficacy, suggesting that employees across a wide range of professions could learn how to recover from elevated stress symptoms. This type of accessible and brief recovery intervention could potentially prevent and reduce the negative effects of stress, as well as improve recovery and quality of life. However, more research is needed with larger samples before further conclusions can be drawn.
KeywordsRecovery
Stress
Work
Internet-based
Intervention
Prevention
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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