Health Promoting Work Schedules: The Effect of Abolishing Quick Returns

Summary

Introduction In shift work, quick returns refer to transitions between two shifts with less than 11 hours available rest time. Twenty-three per cent of employees in European countries reported having quick returns. Quick returns are related to short sleep duration, fatigue, sleepiness, work-related accidents, and sickness absence. The present study is the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) to investigate the effect of a work schedule without quick returns for six months, compared to a work schedule that maintains quick returns during the same time frame.

Methods and analysis A parallel-group cluster RCT in a target sample of more than 4000 healthcare workers at Haukeland University Hospital in Norway will be conducted. More than 70 hospital units will be assessed for eligibility and randomized to a work schedule without quick returns for six months or continue with a schedule that maintains quick returns. The primary outcome is objective records of sickness absence; secondary outcomes are questionnaire data (n ≈ 4000 invited) on sleep and functioning, physical and psychological health, work-related accidents, and turnover intention. For a subsample, sleep diaries and objective sleep registrations with radar technology (n ≈ 50) will be collected.

Ethics and dissemination The study protocol was approved by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in Western Norway (2020/200386). Findings from the trial will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences. Exploratory analyses of potential mediators and moderators will be reported. User-friendly outputs will be disseminated to relevant stakeholders, unions and other relevant societal groups.

Conditions

• Sick Leave
• Insomnia
• Shift-Work Sleep Disorder
• Psychological Distress
• Work Accident
• Turnover Intention
• Work-family Spillover
• Fatigue
• Health, Subjective

Interventions

OTHER

Shift schedule without quick returns

The intervention entails implementing a shift schedule which abolishes or substantially reduces the number of quick returns (less than 11 hours of rest between two shifts) for a six-month intervention period.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Bergen

  collaborator OTHER

• Norwegian Institute of Public Health

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Anette Harris, PhD · University of Bergen, Norway

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-01-01

Primary Completion

2022-05-31

Completion

2022-05-31

Countries

• Norway

Study Locations