Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Mar 10, 2023
Date Accepted: Jan 4, 2024
Selecting the right levels of health coaching and heart rate variability biofeedback in a workplace behavior change intervention: A preparation study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Work-related stress is associated with poor job performance and negative health outcomes. Employers often hire corporate wellness providers to run wellness programs to mitigate workplace stress. Optimizing corporate wellness programs may reduce company costs while improving stress and wellness.
Objective:
To select the candidate intervention components from a corporate wellness program to be included in a future optimization study.
Methods:
The study is situated within the preparation phase of the MOST framework (preparation phase). It is a 2x2x2x2 design with four components: two types of health coaching and two types of biofeedback. All components were tested “on” or “off”. Adult office workers (N = 16; Mage = 40, 15 Women) completed an 8-week self-paced virtual stress management and wellness program and were randomly assigned to one of the 16 conditions. Assessments included web analytics, surveys, and interviews (on program recommendations, likes and dislikes).
Results:
Finding from the interviews provided suggestions to improve the intervention (e.g., separate wellness from stress content) and to improve trial conduct (e.g., streamline onboarding process). On average, participants logged into the wellness program 83 times (range: 36 to 291), with participant retention (n=12/16) and survey completion (n=8/12). There were no reported problems with coaching or obtaining data from the interviews and apps.
Conclusions:
Results provided areas to improve intervention content and trial methods. Rather than moving to the next planned large-scale optimization phase, we plan to iterate through a second pilot phase after making changes to the protocol, apps, and corporate coaching partner. Clinical Trial: NCT05150574
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