Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Apr 16, 2020
Date Accepted: Jul 26, 2020
Exploring the Effects of a Brief Biofeedback Breathing Session Delivered through the BioBase app. in Facilitating Employee Stress Recovery: A Randomised Experimental Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Recovery from stress is a predictive factor for cardiovascular health and heart rate variability (HRV) is suggested to be an index of how well people physiologically recover from stress. Biofeedback and mindfulness interventions that include guided breathing have shown to be effective in increasing HRV and facilitating stress recovery.
Objective:
This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a brief app.-based biofeedback breathing intervention (BioBase) in enhancing physiological recovery among employees who were induced to cognitive and emotional stress.
Methods:
In total 75 full-time employees took part. Inter-beat-intervals (RR) were recorded continuously for five minutes at baseline, and during a cognitive and emotional stress induction. The session ended with a five-minute recovery period during which participants were randomly allocated in three conditions: app-based biofeedback breathing (BioBase), mindfulness body scan and control. Subjective tension was assessed at the end of each period.
Results:
Subjective tension significantly increased following the stress induction. HRV significantly decreased following the stress period. At the recovery phase, the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) (P=.002), the percentage of successive RR that differ by >50ms (pNN50) (P=.008) and high frequency (HF) (P=.012) were significantly higher in the BioBase breathing condition, relative to the mindfulness body scan and the control groups.
Conclusions:
Biofeedback breathing interventions digitally delivered through a commercially available app. can be effective in facilitating stress recovery among employees. These findings contribute to mHealth literature on the beneficial effects of brief biofeedback interventions on employees’ cardiovascular health. Clinical Trial: https://osf.io/8ywuk
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