Rapid Optimisation of Performance Enhancement and Skill (ROPES)

The Effectiveness of Rapid Optimisation of Performance Enhancement and Skill (ROPES) As an Exercise Training Programme for Sedentary Health Care Staff

Despite innate knowledge of the benefits of regular physical activity, healthcare workers are just as physically inactive as the general population. Physical activity interventions delivered at the workplace seem perfect to improve the health of this large population.

The aim of the study is to deliver an efficacious, minimal time impost training program targeted at optimising health benefit while overcoming time-related barriers to initial uptake of regular exercise.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Sedentary Lifestyle
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: ROPES Training Programme

Detailed Description

To evaluate the effectiveness of a 4-week, easily accessible, time-optimised exercise program (ROPES - Rapid Optimisation of Performance Enhancement and Skill) for healthcare workers.

60 staff recruited from Singapore General Hospital (SGH) will be randomly assigned into 2 groups, CONTROL or ROPES group. The ratio to intervention and control group is at 1:1. The staff will be assigned to each group respectively.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Celia Ia Choo Tan, PhD (Dept of Surgery); Phone Number: +65 63265281; Email: celia.tan.i.c@singhealth.com.sg

Study Locations

• Singapore
  • Singapore, Singapore
    • Recruiting
    • Singapore General Hospital
    • Contact: Celia Ia Choo Tan, PhD (Dept of Surgery); Phone Number: +65 63265281; Email: celia.tan.i.c@singhealth.com.sg
    • Contact: Celia Ia Choo Tan, PhD (Dept of Surgery)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age group: 21 - 70 years old
• All participants must be free of musculoskeletal, surgical and/or neurological injury in the past 6 months.
• Participants not engaged actively in regular exercise i.e. exercises less than once a week and at a duration less than 30 mins per session.
• Healthy with stable management of any existing diabetes, cholesterol and/or hypertension.
• They should have no issues with the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participants under the age of 21 or over the age of 70
• Newly diagnosed diabetes/metabolic syndrome/high cholesterol or uncontrolled high BP >160 mmHg and under medical supervision.
• Subjects with cardiovascular conditions and on beta-blockers.
• Subjects who are pregnant or with recent (< 3 months) diagnosis of a medical condition, especially cardiac-related conditions.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; 30 participants will be randomised into the CONTROL group and will continue to perform their normal activities. They will only be required to keep a log of their exercise intensity for each week over the 4-week period and record them on an online diary. The exercise log/diary consists of type of exercise, e.g. resistance or aerobic and duration of exercise session.
Experimental: ROPES; The intervention is a 4-week training exercise program conducted by trained Physiotherapists.	Procedure: ROPES Training Programme; ROPES is a training programme that involves resistance training, whole-body exercises and HIIT aerobic sessions with each session lasting no longer than 45 minutes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Physical work capacity	A standard physical work capacity test based on the linear relationship between heart rate, power output and oxygen consumption will estimate the work capacity. The higher the heart rate, the better the physical work capacity. Minimum value of heart rate is 155 bpm and maximum value is 199 bpm.	From enrollment to the end of study at 8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Muscular Strength	Handgrip strength will be measured using a hand-held dynamometer to determine functional strength.	From enrollment to the end of study at 8 weeks
BMI	Height and weight will be measured on a body fat analyser and will be combined to report the BMI in kg/m^2.	From enrollment to the end of study at 8 weeks
Body Fat	Body fat will be measured on a body composition analyser and will be reported in percentage %.	From enrollment to the end of study at 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Singapore General Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 2, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 17, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 22, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 13, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Sedentary; healthcare workers
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2024-3861

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No