Baseline characteristics of the trial population
| Variable | Intervention group (n=69) | Control group (n=70) |
| Gender, male; N (%) | 42 (60.9) | 43 (61.4) |
| Age (18–65); mean (SD) | 48.41 (8.68) | 47.07 (9.49) |
| Highest level of education; N (%)* | ||
| Low | 5 (7.9) | 6 (9.0) |
| Medium | 49 (77.8) | 45 (67.2) |
| High | 9 (14.3) | 16 (23.9) |
| Presence of long-term illness; N (%)† | 39 (59.1) | 34 (51.5) |
| Living alone; N (%)† | 12 (17.4) | 13 (18.6) |
| Depressive complaints (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale—Depression) (0–21)‡; mean (SD) | 10.45 (2.67) | 9.97 (2.34) |
| Depressive complaints (Beck Depression Inventory-II) (0–63)‡; mean (SD) | 17.03 (9.56) | 14.84 (8.11) |
| Psychological distress (Brief Symptom Inventory) (0–212)‡; mean (SD) | 40.79 (27.85) | 35.34 (25.47) |
| Score on Balansmeter (indicating risk of sickness absence); mean (SD) | –0.5902 (0.9599) | –0.5993 (0.7562) |
| Working hours/week; mean (SD) | 34.8 (4.52) | 34.9 (4.91) |
| Having an executive position; N (%)† | 4 (5.8) | 7 (10.0) |