Reducing Work-related Screen Time in Health Care Workers During Leisure Time (REDUCE-SCREEN)

March 18, 2024 updated by: University of Nebraska
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect that uninstalling work email applications from mobile devices during leisure time has on health care worker stress levels.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Burnout is more common in physicians than in the general population. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has increased burnout and stress levels among health care workers, leading to a peak of 34% of health care workers experiencing burnout symptoms. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of burnout symptoms among health care workers was trending upwards. In fact, most health care workers experience burnout to some degree.

Managing email inboxes and working with electronic health records (EHR) can increase screen time levels for health care workers who use them. High amounts of screen time have been linked to depression and stress in teenagers and adults. EHR digital work is a noted burden on physicians, and inbox management has been linked to physician stress and burnout. A study that measured physician stress during electronic health record inbox work found that accessing and responding to EHR inbox outside of work hours increased stress levels in physicians.

The effect of an intervention that lowers screen time usage in health care workers during leisure time has not been measured. Determining this effect can influence new protocols on inbox and work email management during leisure time for health care workers. This can benefit organizations by improving employee performance, employees by reducing stress and burnout levels, and patients by providing more refreshed patient care. This study aims to determine the effect that uninstalling email from mobile devices during leisure time has on health care worker stress levels.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

520

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Nebraska
      • Omaha, Nebraska, United States, 68198
        • University of Nebraska Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

19 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 1) be an active health care worker
  • 2) be ≥ 19 years old
  • 3) routinely use a smartphone
  • 4) have a work email application (e.g., Outlook) installed on their smartphone.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • None

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
This group would complete a survey that measures stress before and after leisure time with no added instructions.
Experimental: Reduce screen time
Participants randomized to the intervention group are encouraged to set up an automated response to emails received during their weekend off, reduce their screen time for duration of leisure time, and uninstall work applications from their mobile device. Surveys are sent prior to and after leisure time.
Behavioral: Reduce screen time
The intervention is information provided via email on how to set up an automated response to emails received during their weekend off, reduce screen time for duration of leisure time, and uninstall work applications from their mobile device.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from baseline modified Perceived Stress Scale-10 after leisure time
Time Frame: Change in scale measured at baseline and after leisure time (through study completion, an average of 1 week)
Individual scores on the Perceived Stress Scale can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress.
Change in scale measured at baseline and after leisure time (through study completion, an average of 1 week)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Screen time
Time Frame: At the end of leisure time (through study completion, an average of 1 week)
Screen time in hours
At the end of leisure time (through study completion, an average of 1 week)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Nebraska

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Karsten Bartels, MD, PhD, MBA, University of Nebraska

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 9, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 5, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

November 5, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 12, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 3, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

November 4, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 20, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 18, 2024

Last Verified

March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 0514-21-EX

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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