Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 11, 2025

A Community-based Stress Management Program: Using Wearable Devices to Assess Whole Body Physiological Responses in Non-laboratory Settings
Published on: January 22, 2018
Self-reported sick leave following a brief preventive intervention on work-related stress: a randomised controlled
Anna-Maria Hultén1, Pernilla Bjerkeli2, Kristina Holmgren3
1Department of Health and Rehabilitation, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden anna-maria.hulten@gu.se.
Objectives:
To evaluate the effectiveness of a brief intervention about early identification of work-related stress combined with feedback at consultation with a general practitioner (GP) on the number of self-reported sick leave days.
Design:
Randomised controlled trial. Prospective analyses of self-reported sick leave data collected between November 2015 and January 2017.
Setting:
Seven primary healthcare centres in western Sweden.
Participants:
The study included 271 employed, non-sick-listed patients aged 18-64 years seeking care for mental and/or physical health complaints. Of these, 132 patients were allocated to intervention and 139 patients to control.
Interventions:
The intervention group received a brief intervention about work-related stress, including training for GPs, screening of patients' work-related stress, feedback to patients on screening results and discussion of measures at GP consultation. The control group received treatment as usual.
Outcome Measures:
The number of self-reported gross sick leave days and the number of self-reported net sick leave days, thereby also considering part-time sick leave.
Results:
At 6 months' follow-up, 220/271 (81%) participants were assessed, while at 12 months' follow-up, 241/271 (89%) participants were assessed. At 6-month follow-up, 59/105 (56%) in the intervention group and 61/115 (53%) in the control group reported no sick leave. At 12-month follow-up, the corresponding numbers were 61/119 (51%) and 57/122 (47%), respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention group and the control group in the median number of self-reported gross sick leave days and the median number of self-reported net sick leave days.
Conclusions:
The brief intervention showed no effect on the numbers of self-reported sick leave days for patients seeking care at the primary healthcare centres. Other actions and new types of interventions need to be explored to address patients' perceiving of ill health due to work-related stress.
Trial Registration Number:
NCT02480855.
More Related Videos
12:22Mindfulness in Motion MIM: An Onsite Mindfulness Based Intervention MBI for Chronically High Stress Work Environments to Increase Resiliency and Work Engagement
Published on: July 1, 2015
06:28E-Patient Counseling Trial E-PACO: Computer Based Education versus Nurse Counseling for Patients to Prepare for Colonoscopy
Published on: August 1, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques I
Conscientiousness
Conscientious individuals tend to be organized, responsible, and disciplined. They prioritize completing tasks and following structured routines,...
Preventive Healthcare Services
Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques VI
Motivation and Self-Determination
Motivation, the driving force behind behavior, plays a pivotal role at every stage of the change process. The research...
Levels of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention
In primary prevention, actions taken before disease onset prevent the disease from...
Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques IV
Community Based Intervention
Foundations of Community Mental Health Programs
Central to the success of community-based interventions is the...