Relax "Vitality in Practice" (VIP) project and design of an RCT to reduce the need for recovery in office employees

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is strong evidence to suggest that multiple work-related health problems are preceded by a higher need for recovery. Physical activity and relaxation are helpful in decreasing the need for recovery. This article aims to describe (1) the development and (2) the design of the evaluation of a daily physical activity and relaxation intervention to reduce the need for recovery in office employees.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The study population will consist of employees of a Dutch financial service provider. The intervention was systematically developed, based on parts of the Intervention Mapping (IM) protocol. Assessment of employees needs was done by combining results of face-to-face interviews, a questionnaire and focus group interviews. A set of theoretical methods and practical strategies were selected which resulted in an intervention program consisting of Group Motivational Interviewing (GMI) supported by a social media platform, and environmental modifications. The Be Active & Relax program will be evaluated in a modified 2 X 2 factorial design. The environmental modifications will be pre-stratified and GMI will be randomised on department level. The program will be evaluated, using 4 arms: (1) GMI and environmental modifications; (2) environmental modifications; (3) GMI; (4) no intervention (control group). Questionnaire data on the primary outcome (need for recovery) and secondary outcomes (daily physical activity, sedentary behaviour, relaxation/detachment, work- and health-related factors) will be gathered at baseline (T0), at 6 months (T1), and at 12 months (T2) follow-up. In addition, an economic and a process evaluation will be performed.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Reducing the need for recovery is hypothesized to be beneficial for employees, employers and society. It is assumed that there will be a reduction in need for recovery after 6 months and 12 months in the intervention group, compared to the control group. Results are expected in 2013.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Netherlands Trial Register (NTR): NTR2553</p

Color in Schools and Offices

An aspect of school and office environments for improving visual processing, reducing stress, and enhancing task performances of all users

Using Ambient Lighting in Persuasive Communication: The Role of Pre-existing Color Associations

Earlier research indicated that ambient persuasive lighting can have persuasive effects on energy-efficiency behavior. However, why would this kind of ambient feedback be effective? The current research investigated the influence of the strength of associations (of colors used for giving feedback) on the effectiveness of ambient feedback. Two color sets were chosen from a pre-test to represent strongly- and weakly-associated with energy consumption, i.e. red versus green and yellow vs. purple, respectively. Results indicated that lighting feedback that was strongly associated with energy consumption had stronger persuasive effects than weakly-associated lighting feedback. Moreover, participants who received weakly-associated feedback needed more time to program the thermostat when performing the additional cognitive task (as compared to participants without additional task), while this difference was not found in strongly-associated feedback condition. This research reveals that the persuasive potential of ambient persuasive lighting can be enhanced by making use of pre-existing color association

Reduce stress through empathic machine to improve HCI

Daily life problems, can lead to distress, which has a harmful effect on health. Individuals are using machines for longer period. Machines should now have the ability to understand and show empathy which relies on trying to help the other through their emotional situation. In this study, showing empathy is done by reducing the effect of negative stress by using blue light. In the experiment, 17 participants executed a computer-mediated stress-generating test while using an Empatica E4 to extract physiological signals. The test is done without and with additional blue-colored light. The results show that a simple addition of blue colored light has the tendency to reduce mental stress. That can be interpreted as, compared to the normal state, the experiment with no light-induced more stress than the experiment with the blue light in the humans. Which imply that the blue light helped in maintaining a lower level of stress

Textile fields and workplace emotions

The development of the design solution for textile screen and panel coverings for the Axiom Office Furniture Programme is described and the relevance of existing knowledge of colour theory and visual perception is considered. The design process made a conscious attempt to establish the potential for emotional correspondence between end users and the product. Consideration of theories of perception confirms that the design solution may achieve this objective