Effects of a mobile health intervention on activities of stress self-management for workers

1 Introduction

All workers are at risk of various mental health problems, including stress, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), self-stigma [1], and insomnia [2]. These mental health problems can affect workers who have experienced workplace bullying [3], workplace violence [4], or disaster [5]. Anxiety and depression are reported to increase by 2.15 and 1.87 times, respectively, among workers in a manufacturing company working > 60 hours a week [6]. When a worker experiences symptom of deteriorating mental health, it can be difficult to focus on work [7]. A study of workers in the metallurgical industry showed a significant association between occupational stress and work engagement [8]. Employee health problems reduce work performance and increase sick leave [9]. Therefore, workers should engage in mental health-promoting activities that facilitate inspection and management of their mental health.

To keep up with the advances in information technology, mental health interventions are being offered using internet-based health (eHealth) programs, mobile communication, and social media [10]. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions that utilize smartphone apps help overcome geographical distance and allow limited face-to-face access [11]. Further, mHealth self-care interventions can be simultaneously administered to many people, which makes them an inexpensive strategy [12].

According to previous research, the eHealth stress management for highly stressed employees has improved perceived stress [13, 14], anxiety [13], burnout [13, 14], work engagement [13], and work experience [14]. However, the effects of mHealth interventions on workers have not been clearly identified. There have been inconsistent reports from studies to reduce stress of workers. One study [15] found that an in-person intervention for workers with work-related stress was more useful than a smartphone-delivered intervention. The smartphone-delivered intervention only promoted well-being; in contrast, the in-person intervention reduced stress and emotional burnout as well as promoted well-being. A mindfulness-based mHealth intervention for healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) significantly improved depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia in the group receiving psychotropic medications or psychotherapy as compared with the control group [16]. This shows that mHealth interventions are effective when coupled with other treatment modalities. Therefore, there remains limited evidence supporting the effectiveness of mHealth interventions in workers.

We aimed to develop a mobile app-based stress management intervention (mSMI) for highly stressed workers familiar with mobile devices who require mental health management, and evaluate the effects of the intervention.

2 Methods

2.2 Participants

We enrolled workers aged≥20 years with high perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale-10 [PSS-10]) score≥22 at the screening test who owned an Android-based mobile device and could use mobile apps. The selection criteria of participants were prepared based on meta-analyses findings that psychological wellbeing and work effectiveness outcomes were more significant through eHealth intervention in the study targeting participants with high levels of stress or depression [1, 9]. The exclusion criteria were a PSS-10 score <22, a self-reported diagnosis of mental illnesses, and current use of psychotherapy or psychotropic medications. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board before data collection (CUIRB-2020-0041).

The sample size was calculated using the G* Power 3.1.7 software [17]. As a reference, we used the effect sizes reported by a study on an internet-based stress intervention for workers (Cohen d = 0.75) [14]. For an effect size of 0.70, significance level of 0.05, and power of 0.80 for two-tailed tests, the minimum sample size was calculated to be 68. Considering a 20% drop-out rate, 82 participants were required.

We performed convenience sampling of office workers in South Korea at public administration, information technology (IT), education, and health industries. We recruited participants through health managers and a recruitment announcement. Participation was voluntary, and participants provided informed consent. Among 634 individuals who participated in the screening test, we enrolled 82 eligible participants (selection rate 12.9%). The enrolled participants were randomly allocated to the experimental or control group. The participants were blinded to their group allocation. At the 6-week posttest survey, there were 64 participants in all groups, indicating a dropout rate of 22.0% (Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1

Flow of participants’ recruitment, allocation and outcome assessment.

2.3 Intervention

To determine the contents of the mSMI, we searched for studies in databases using keywords, including “mental health,” “stress,” “workers,” “application,” “intervention,” and “self-management.” The contents and features for the mobile app were identified through collaboration with a mental health nurse. First, the “self-management” feature instructed participants to log in the times they start and finish work to monitor daily work hours, as well as check daily stress levels and work intensity. Additionally, the participants could record self-stress management efforts and methods, including taking walks and exercising. Second, a “counseling” feature based on cognitive behavioral therapy was added to help workers requiring counseling and assistance. Participants were asked to describe their feelings and thoughts during a specific problem situation, to describe their current thoughts and feelings, and to anticipate how they would deal with similar situations in the future. Two assigned mental health care professionals checked these notes and replied within 24 hours. Third, to facilitate stress relief, techniques such as music [18], meditation [19], relaxation [20], and image healing [21] were utilized. We included a poem recital feature with music and a breathing exercise [21] (Fig. 2).

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Fig. 2

Screenshot of mobile application called MindCafe.

The contents of the developed app were evaluated by an expert panel comprising of college professors, nurses, and clinical psychologists. Furthermore, all items were confirmed to have an item content validity index (I-CVI)≥0.80. Additionally, the quality of the developed app was rated using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (out of 5) [22]. The app was rated 4.16 and 3.72 by five experts and five non-experts, respectively. After correcting errors and modifying the app based on the feedback, the mSMI (called MindCafe) for workers was finalized.

The mSMI was provided as a self-guided intervention. The certification process, how-to guides for each feature, and information regarding privacy policies were explained on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. Participants were asked to use the app for 10 minutes twice a week for 6 weeks. During the intervention period, we sent out a short message service (SMS) three times a week to encourage participation. The reason for using SMS was that the meta-analysis results showed its usefulness in delivering psychoeducation and mobile app-based interventions, thus demonstrating that mobile apps are highly effective (effect size 0.05– 3.37) in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression immediately after the intervention [23]. The SMS contained messages for attempting to motivate the participants to utilize the counseling, music, meditation, and relaxation features. Further, we opened up a chat channel (Kakao channel) for participants to ask questions during the intervention period, including app downloading problems, instructions for each feature, and data entry. We responded to questions regarding the app around the clock. Using self-report questionnaires, data were collected at the baseline (before intervention) and 6 weeks after completing the intervention. The control group did not undergo anyintervention.

3 Results

Table 1 shows the results of the between-group homogeneity test. The mean age was 38.0±8.96 and 32.7±7.23 years in the experimental and control groups, respectively (t = 3.000, p = 0.004). There were no significant between-group differences in gender, marital status, education level, income, and workplace size.

Table 2 shows post-intervention changes within each group. There was a significant post-intervention reduction in perceived stress in the experimental group (t = 5.788, p < 0.001) and control group (t = 3.184, p = 0.003). However, there were no significant post-intervention changes in anxiety, depression, and work engagement.

Table 3 shows the between-group differences in the post-intervention scores. There were between-group differences in the age distribution. Moreover, since the baseline score affects the post-intervention score, we adjusted for age and baseline score as covariates. There was a significant between-group difference in the post-intervention perceived stress score (F = 4.051, p = 0.048); however, the effect size was small (0.23). There were no significant between-group differences in anxiety, depression, and work engagement scores.

Table 4 shows the users’ comments regarding their experiences and satisfaction with the mobile app. Most users (85.3%) were satisfied with the app. Two-thirds of the users commented that the mobile app increased stress management awareness. Furthermore, more than half of the users stated that the mobile app motivated them to change their attitude and behavior towards stress management. Other comments included requests for alert settings, stress measurement using a sensor, music repeat, and periodic content updates.

This study developed an mSMI for highly stressed workers and evaluated its effects. We found that mSMI effectively reduced perceived stress. This is consistent with previous findings that a mobile app-based stress management program (called Mind Healer) for nurses [18] and a mindfulness-based mHealth intervention for health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced perceived stress [16].

However, we found a small effect size of mSMI on perceived stress. A recent meta-review of seven meta-analyses on mobile app mental health interventions reported a small to medium effect size of mobile apps for stress management [27]. In contrast, a mobile application administered for 4 weeks to nurses had a high effect size on perceived stress [18]. Our observed small effect size could be attributed to an inadequate treatment dose. We instructed participants to use the mSMI for at least 10 minutes per session twice a week for 6 weeks. However, our logs showed that the participants accessed the app for an average of 10.4 minutes per week. Since we used a self-guided intervention, we delivered information regarding how-to instructions for each feature and personal information processing through the FAQ page and SMS. Additionally, we answered participants’ questions through a chat channel. Nevertheless, the participants did not adequately use the interventions. In the post-intervention satisfaction survey, participants mentioned that the periodic reminder text messages increased stress and they did not reinforce program engagement. Facilitating program engagement requires an approach that includes enhancing participants’ initial motivation, frequent and effective reminders, education on the importance of active participation, and financial and verbal incentives [28].

The method of this study which was the limitation of non-face-to-face interventions could have contributed to the failure to induce marked stress relief. A study [15] that administered a 6-week resilience training to health care workers with work-related stress reported that a smartphone-delivered intervention only improved well-being in contrast to an in-person intervention which reduced stress and emotional burnout, as well as promoted well-being. Therefore, we believe one or two face-to-face coaching sessions should be included to boost the effectiveness of mHealth interventions. If in-person interventions are not possible due to factors such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, then video conferences (e.g., Zoom, Meet, Teams, and Webex) should be conducted at the participants’ convenience to emphasize the importance of self-management and to encourage steady participation.

In our study, mSMI was not effective for anxiety, depression, and work engagement. This is consistent with a previous report showing that a 4-week stress-management intervention for nurses using a mobile app did not significantly mitigate depression, anxiety, and emotional labor [18]. However, meta-analyses indicated [27, 29] app-supported smartphone interventions for mental health problems significantly improved depressive or anxiety symptoms with medium effect size. According to Wang et al. [11], a systematic review of study on mHealth interventions targeting stress, anxiety, depression, alcohol disorder, sleep disorder, suicidal behaviors, and PTSD in university, hospital, and community-based recruitment, 14 out of 16 apps significantly reduced mental health symptoms. However, the effects of mobile app interventions on workers, including those in this study, have not been clearly identified. Future studies on mHealth intervention among workers should examine changes in mental health symptoms or job-related outcomes. Anxiety and depression were about twice as high for manufacturing workers who work more than 60 hours a week [6]. Approximately two-thirds of workers who had to work during the COVID-19 pandemic showed more than moderate tendency to experience anxiety [30]. Therefore, further studies are needed to examine mental health symptoms with respect to work conditions, and to verify the efficacy of mobile health intervention.

In our study, participants were generally satisfied with the app; however, they suggested several improvements, including incorporating the latest IT such as automatic stress measurement using a sensor or voice control features. User acceptability and adherence rates are especially critical for mobile interventions [31]. It is likely that emotionally relaxed, warm, and appealing designs incorporating the latest technology to apps promoting mental health management would boost users’ adherence rates to maximize effective prevention and treatment of mental health conditions. There is a need for customized mobile apps tailored to specific target populations. In addition, if the effectiveness of digital health intervention using these customized mobile apps are verified in South Korea, the apps might be generalized to international users with different cultural backgrounds after the accessibility and satisfaction of purchases in the App store have improved [32].

Nevertheless, this study has several contributions to the current scenario. The intervention method was changed from the web-based approach used in previous studies to a mobile application for workers accustomed to using a smartphone. Moreover, we targeted a specific group of highly stressed workers who needed the close monitoring of their mental health in the workplace.

This study has some limitations. Future studies should develop mHealth interventions addressing the shortcomings of mobile-based interventions. First, the treatment dose was lower than planned. This could have compromised the internal validity. Workers who are interested in or are more familiar with using the apps for their mental health are more likely to have higher program engagement. The authors believe self-guided stress management might be beneficial to anyone, regardless of the participant’s stress severity. Second, we did not control for participants engaging in other health care promotions during this study or those who are engaged in other mHealth interventions. This might affect the findings of this study because the other programs might be more important than mSMI interventions, or the mSMI intervention might have been due to an effect of “another new one for mental health” rather than the specific mHealth aspect. Third, the study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. External factors, including COVID-19-related depression, may have influenced the intervention outcomes. Finally, although we ensured allocation concealment, we could not ensure blinding of participants between users of mobile-app intervention and those without any intervention. It might have influenced the results to a certain extent.

5 Conclusions

This study is significant because we administered an individualized mHealth intervention for preventing mental health problems on highly stressed workers. We developed an mHealth intervention and evaluated its stress management effects on workers highly vulnerable to mental health problems. We found that a self-guided, non-face-to-face mSMI for 6 weeks reduced perceived stress in office workers; however, it did not improve anxiety, depression, and work engagement. We suggest that further studies are needed on mobile interventions applied to workers in other occupational groups and workers of different social status. After sufficient evidence has been accumulated, occupational health managers and professionals will be able to contribute to the prevention and management of perceived stress by implementing tailored mobile interventions for stressed workers.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Daegu Catholic University (CUIRB-2020-0041).

Informed consent

All participants provided informed consent. No identifying information of participants was used in this study.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.