Yoga for Stress Management in Health Care Personnel

Yoga for Stress Management in Health Care Personnel and Its Relation to the Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal(HPA)Axis

The purpose of this study is to investigate if yoga can be an effective stress management technique for health care personnel.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stress, Psychological; Stress, Physiological; Yoga
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Yoga as stress management; Other: Rest without using any relaxation technique

Detailed Description

Stress, both job related and personal, is an increasing problem in the health care sector. Yoga is said to have a good stress-reducing effect.

The participants will provide blood, urine, and saliva samples. They will take part in two different stress tests. They will also fill in various qualitative questionnaires, including the Swedish questionnaire on health related quality of life (SWEDQUAL), Antonovsky's sense of coherence scale (KASAM), and the Job stress survey (JSS), both before the study starts and after 3 months of participation.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 71
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Sweden
  • Stockholm
    • Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden, 141 83
      • Center for Family and Community Medicine, KI

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• BMI 18-30
• healthy
• work in the health care sector

Exclusion Criteria:

• medication, including contraceptives and all medications or topical skin preparations with cortisone in any form (exception: hormone replacement therapy for hypothyroidism were included if their hormone levels were within the normal range)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Yoga as stress management; The intervention consists of following a program of yoga at least three times a week for three months. The yoga program has been designed to reduce stress.	Behavioral: Yoga as stress management; Yoga specially designed to reduce stress is practiced for approximately 30 minutes at least three times a week for three months, once in a group session led by a trained yoga instructor and twice or more at home. The yoga techniques used are physical postures or movements, meditation and breathing exercises. Every time they do the techniques, participants fill in a form detailing how they feel before and after and providing information on the experience of doing the exercises.; Other Names: Meditation; Asanas(physical postures or movements); Pranayama (breathing exercises)
Active Comparator: Control group; The group rests without using any specific program for relaxation at least three times a week for three months.	Other: Rest without using any relaxation technique; The participants rest at home at least 30 minutes, at least three times a week for three months and without using any relaxation technique
Other: Yoga as stress management fewer tests; Eight persons participated in the same intervention as the experimental arm but did not undergo the full range of tests because they did not meet all the inclusion criteria for the study, most commonly because of medication use or body mass index.	Behavioral: Yoga as stress management; Yoga specially designed to reduce stress is practiced for approximately 30 minutes at least three times a week for three months, once in a group session led by a trained yoga instructor and twice or more at home. The yoga techniques used are physical postures or movements, meditation and breathing exercises. Every time they do the techniques, participants fill in a form detailing how they feel before and after and providing information on the experience of doing the exercises.; Other Names: Meditation; Asanas(physical postures or movements); Pranayama (breathing exercises)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Reduced cortisol secretion	Three months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Reduced stress measured by qualitative questionnaires (SWEQUAL, JSS, KASAM)	Three months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Karolinska Institutet
• Collaborators: Region Stockholm; Ekhaga Foundation Stockholm Sweden
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Astrid M Grensman, MD, KI, Center for Family and Community Medicine; Principal Investigator: Bikash D Acharya, M sc in Psy, KI, Center for Family and Community Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: August 1, 2003
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2005
• Study Completion (Actual): May 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 22, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): July 23, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): July 23, 2010
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 22, 2010
• Last Verified: July 1, 2010

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Yoga; Stress; Stress management; Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: Ekhagastiftelsen 2001-5