"The cost-effectiveness of an intervention to increase physical activity and relaxation amongst office workers".

Rationale:

The VIP in Insurance project is situated at a renowned financial service provider in the Netherlands. This employer has great ambitions regarding health of its employees and has already taken steps towards offering options for improving workers' wellbeing. ¡®VIP in Insurance focuses on increasing levels of daily physical activity and relaxation. The intervention program was developed in close cooperation with several representatives from different sections of the company. With interviews and questionnaires, we collected information about the worker's attitude toward physical activity and relaxation. The interviews showed that relaxation was defined as detachment by the workers; being mentally and physically away from work-related activities. In further instances, therefore, the term (psychological) detachment will be adopted instead of relaxation.



Objective:

The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate an intervention to increase detachment and overall daily physical activity.



Study design and phasing: This study will be performed by using a group randomised controlled trial design with two arms in the workplace setting. Randomisation will take place at the teamleader level (n=60). The project ¡®VIP in Insurance consists of three phases. The first part of the project focuses on developing the intervention by using the Intervention Mapping (IM) protocol. The second phase will pilot test the intervention. The third phase focuses on implementing the intervention and evaluating the effectiveness in a group randomized controlled trial. Questionnaire data will be gathered at baseline (T0), at 6 months (T1), and at 12 months (T2) intervals.



Study population:
The research population consists of office workers of a financial service provider in the Netherlands.



Intervention:
The intervention program will be aimed at improving levels of daily physical activity and detachment (relaxation). In the intervention group, group motivational interviewing will be applied for 4 sessions in 2 months. And one follow-up meeting after one month. Thirty teamleaders of the financial service provider will be trained as GMI-coach. After the training, they will lead a GMI group of 8-15 workers. Furthermore, the intervention group will use a social media platform. An important element of the platform is the online community; workers will be stimulated to form or to join activity groups such as a lunch walking group/ fitness group/chess club and so on. For the GMI trainers, there is an online community too where they can share experiences with each other. Additionally, active transport is promoted by applying 'the bike to work system'. Furthermore, changes will be made in the physical environment for the intervention group. The control group will receive usual care.



Main study parameters/endpoints:

The primary outcome measures include detachment and daily physical activity. The sample size is based on finding an effect of 10% for physical activity and detachment. Secondary outcome measures are work-related (absenteeism, productivity, sick leave). In addition, the cost-effectiveness will be analysed and a process evaluation will be performed.

We hypothesise that the intervention group will significantly improve detachment by increasing daily physical activity and relaxation, compared to the control group receiving usual care (minimal intervention or company's current health activities), at the short (6 months) and the longer term (12 months).

Questionnaire data will be gathered at baseline (T0), at 6 months (T1), and at 12 months (T2) intervals.

The intervention program will be aimed at improving levels of daily physical activity and detachment (relaxation). In the intervention group, group motivational interviewing will be applied for 4 sessions in 2 months. And one follow-up meeting after one month. Thirty teamleaders of the financial service provider will be trained as GMI-coach. After the training, they will lead a GMI group of 8-15 workers. Furthermore, the intervention group will use a social media platform. An important element of the platform is the online community; workers will be stimulated to form or to join activity groups such as a lunch walking group/ fitness group/chess club and so on. For the GMI trainers, there is an online community too where they can share experiences with each other. Additionally, active transport is promoted by applying 'the bike to work system'. Furthermore, changes will be made in the physical environment for the intervention group.



The control group will receive care as usual.