TY - JOUR T1 - Health-related effects of worksite interventions involving physical exercise and reduced workhours JO - Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health PY - 2008/6VL - 34 IS - 3 SP - 179 EP - 188 AU - von Thiele Schwarz, Ulrica AU - Lindfors, Petra AU - Lundberg, Ulf M3 - doi: 10.5271/sjweh.1227 UR - https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=1227 KW - biomarker KW - cluster randomization KW - health promotion KW - health protection initiative KW - health-related effect KW - MSD KW - musculoskeletal disorder KW - physical activity KW - physical exercise KW - reduced workhours KW - upper-extremity disorder KW - woman KW - work ability KW - workhours KW - worksite intervention N2 - '

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OBJECTIVES ': 'This study examined the health-related effects of two worksite interventions, physical exercise and reduced workhours, on women employed in dentistry.

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METHODS ': 'Six workplaces were randomized to one of the following three conditions: (i) 2.5 hours of weekly, mandatory physical exercise of middle-to-high intensity to be performed during workhours (N=62), (ii) a reduction of full-time weekly workhours from 40 to 37.5 hours (N=50), and (iii) reference. In all, 177 women participated. Biomarkers and self-ratings in questionnaires were obtained before the intervention (T1), and six (T2) and 12 months (T3) after the intervention.

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RESULTS ': 'The results showed increased levels of physical activity and exercise in all of the groups, the level of physical exercise being significantly greater in the physical exercise group. Repeated-measures analyses of variance using data from T1 and T3 for biological measures and all three time points for self-ratings produced significant interaction effects for glucose, waist-to-hip ratio, and work ability and clear trends for general symptoms and upper-extremity disorders. Posthoc analyses showed that the results of the health-related measures differed between the interventions, decreased glucose and upper-extremity disorders in the exercise group, and increased high-density lipoprotein and waist-to-hip ratio among those working reduced hours.

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CONCLUSIONS ': 'These results show that the two interventions had small and varied effects on biomarkers and self-reports of different aspects of health among women. It is suggested that interventions involving a modest reduction in workhours seem to be more effective if these hours are used for physical exercise.

SN - 0355-3140 ER -