Summary of studies of interventions
| Study | Participants | Design | Response rate | Intervention | Outcomes | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gronningsaeter et al, 199249 | 76 physically inactive Norwegian insurance workers | Stratified RCT | 72% | 6 sessions aerobic exercise per week for 10 weeks or 3 sessions stress management training per week for 10 weeks | Anxiety (STAI) and health complaints | No association of either intervention with anxiety. Aerobic exercise associated with reduced health complaints (F=3.4, p=0.07 compared to controls, and F=4.8, p<0.05 compared to stress management intervention) |
| Heaney et al, 199550 | 1375 US residential care workers | Cluster RCT | 62% | 6 × 4 hour sessions over 9 weeks to teach skills to enhance social support and problem solving | Depression (SCL-90R) | For those most at risk of leaving their jobs, R2=0.41, p<0.01 |
| Kagan et al, 199551 | 373 US fire department workers | Randomised, uncontrolled | Not reported | 42 weeks of 7 psycho-educational programmes, 6 weeks each | Anxiety, depression, psychological strain, emotional burnout | Compared to baseline, F=52.3, 42.2, 29.1, 10.6 respectively; p<0.001 for all. At 9–16 month follow up, F=4.8 (p<0.05), 8.7 (p<0.01), 21.4 (p<0.001), 45.2 (p<0.001) respectively |
| Lokk and Arnetz, 199752 | 26 Swedish hospital ward workers | RCT | 93% | 20 weekly 1 hour stress management sessions | Stress hormone (prolactin) level | Change scores: Intervention group −0.58 Control group +1.85 F=7.3, p<0.01 |
| Malcolm et al, 199353 | 604 UK long term sick local government workers | Observational | 100% | Early referral to Occupational Health | Duration of sickness absence (weeks) | 25 weeks in intervention period compared to 40 in control period |
| Smoot and Gonzales, 199554 | 65 US hospital workers | Matched controlled | 90% | 4 weekly 8 hour sessions of communication training | Sick leave (hours) in 6 months after compared to 6 months before | % change: −28.2 in experimental group, −6.4 in control group |