Fatigue intervention for airline pilots.

Rationale:

A large part of flight personnel admits to be fatigued regularly. This is caused by irregular and long working hours, and the crossing of time zones. In turn, these conditions cause travel fatigue, a lack of sleep and jet lag. Current research shows that 30% of the pilots are fatigued at least twice a week. Further, 75% of the pilots indicate that they acknowledge fatigue as a major problem of their job, and 71% reports ever to have been dosed off during a flight. Persistent fatigue symptoms can lead to health problems, impaired performance during work, and an impaired work life balance.



Hypothesis:

An intervention consisting of a set of specific fatigue reducing and health enhancing advices will lead to less fatigue and sickness absence in airline pilots. Following the intervention and the accompanying advices will lead to pilots reporting their work as being more pleasant and healthy.



Objective:

The primary objective of this project is to develop an intervention that provides the participants with fatigue reducing and health enhancing advices. The secondary aim is to determine the effect of such an intervention. Finally, the applicability of the intervention and the enhancing and inhibiting factors of the implementation are evaluated.



Study design:

The intervention is evaluated by means of a randomised controlled trial. There is an intervention group who receives fatigue reducing advices and a control group who does not receive any supplementary advice.



Study population:

The study population consists of pilots of all units of the Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM). All subjects have a contract until the end of the last measurement, do not have a function on the ground, and are not on sick leave for more than 4 weeks at the moment of recruitment.



Intervention:

The intervention will be custom made. Depending on the wishes from the target population, the intervention can be supplied digitally, interactively, and specific per both location and individual. For each station with its specific roster and layover period, the participant will be provided with practical advices aimed at reducing fatigue. The intervention is based on the latest scientific knowledge and contains advices about, sleep behaviour, exposure to light, food intake, and physical activity.



Main study parameters/endpoints:

The main study parameters are changes on fatigue, sickness absence, need for recovery, sleep quality and work life balance.



Nature and extent of the burden and risks associated with participation:

Participation in the study will bring no burden or risks.

An intervention consisting of a set of specific fatigue reducing and health enhancing advices will lead to less fatigue and sickness absence in airline pilots. Following the intervention and the accompanying advices will lead to pilots reporting their work as being more pleasant and healthy.

Baseline (T0):

1. Fatigue: Fatigue will be measured by the 20 item CIS individual strength questionnaire;

2. Sickness Absence: Sickness absence will be measured using the database of the occupational health company of KLM, KLM Health Services;

3. Quality of sleep: Sleep quality will be measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index;

4. Need for recovery: Need for recovery will be measured by the 11 item VBBA questionnaire;

5. Work life balance: Work life balance is measured by the 8 item SWING questionnaire.



3 months (T1):

1. Fatigue;

2. Sickness Absence;

3. Quality of sleep;

4. Need for recovery;

5. Work life balance.



6 months (T2):

1. Fatigue;

2. Sickness Absence;

3. Quality of sleep;

4. Need for recovery;

5. Work life balance.



12 months (T3):

1. Fatigue;

2. Sickness Absence;

3. Quality of sleep;

4. Need for recovery;

5. Work life balance.

The intervention will be custom made. Depending on the wishes from the target population, the intervention can be supplied digitally, interactively, and specific per both location and individual. For each station with its specific roster and layover period, the participant will be provided with practical advices aimed at reducing fatigue. The intervention is based on the latest scientific knowledge and contains advices about, sleep behaviour, exposure to light, food intake, and physical activity.

The control group will not receive any supplementary advice.