TY - JOUR

T1 - Worksite exercise intervention for hospital health care providers

T2 - Outcomes and resource utilization of a pilot study

AU - Gregson, Sara Stemann

AU - Særvoll, Charlotte Ahlgren

AU - Møller, Sofie Fønsskov

AU - Justesen, Just Bendix

AU - Lindegaard, Birgitte

AU - Krogh-Madsen, Rikke

AU - Dalager, Tina

AU - Fischer, Thea K.

AU - Sopina, Liza

AU - Molsted, Stig

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Objectives: Workplace exercise has been demonstrated to improve health outcomes and productivity. Hospital staffs may have a large potential to benefit from workplace exercise; however, implementation of workplace exercise faces the challenges of the workflow in hospitals. This study aimed to explore the economic and productivity consequences of a 12-week exercise intervention for hospital health care providers in a Danish hospital department. Methods: The outcome measures included the costs of providing the intervention, sick leave, self-reported quality of life (EQ-5D-5 L), work engagement (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale), and employees’ workplace social capital. Ordinary Least Squares and Generalized Linear Models were employed to assess whether the extent of participation in the intervention was associated with the outcome measures. Results: A total of 80 participants completed an average of 9 sessions during the 12-week study period, at an estimated mean cost of €77 per person. Increasing number of exercise sessions was associated with improvements on the pain domain of the EQ-5D-5 L (mean (SD) -0.2570 (0.723), p = 0.0049), and with improved work engagement (by 4.6%) over the intervention period. We found no significant associations between exercise session participation and the other outcome measures. Conclusions: The pilot study demonstrates relatively high acceptance of a worksite exercise program at a hospital, at a relatively low cost, with several important directions in outcomes. Further work should explore whether these results can be replicated in a larger, randomized trial.

AB - Objectives: Workplace exercise has been demonstrated to improve health outcomes and productivity. Hospital staffs may have a large potential to benefit from workplace exercise; however, implementation of workplace exercise faces the challenges of the workflow in hospitals. This study aimed to explore the economic and productivity consequences of a 12-week exercise intervention for hospital health care providers in a Danish hospital department. Methods: The outcome measures included the costs of providing the intervention, sick leave, self-reported quality of life (EQ-5D-5 L), work engagement (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale), and employees’ workplace social capital. Ordinary Least Squares and Generalized Linear Models were employed to assess whether the extent of participation in the intervention was associated with the outcome measures. Results: A total of 80 participants completed an average of 9 sessions during the 12-week study period, at an estimated mean cost of €77 per person. Increasing number of exercise sessions was associated with improvements on the pain domain of the EQ-5D-5 L (mean (SD) -0.2570 (0.723), p = 0.0049), and with improved work engagement (by 4.6%) over the intervention period. We found no significant associations between exercise session participation and the other outcome measures. Conclusions: The pilot study demonstrates relatively high acceptance of a worksite exercise program at a hospital, at a relatively low cost, with several important directions in outcomes. Further work should explore whether these results can be replicated in a larger, randomized trial.

KW - Economy

KW - Exercise training

KW - Musculoskeletal pain

KW - Quality of life

KW - Work engagement

KW - Workplace intervention

U2 - 10.1016/j.peh.2023.100259

DO - 10.1016/j.peh.2023.100259

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85165723314

VL - 11

JO - Performance Enhancement & Health

JF - Performance Enhancement & Health

SN - 2211-2669

IS - 3

M1 - 100259

ER -