This paper reports on the effects of a 9-week vitality training that employed behaviour-change techniques and was evaluated using a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in three large companies based in the Netherlands.
A total of 84 adult employees from three participating organisations in the Netherlands were enrolled in the study. A parallel group RCT design was employed and participants were assigned using individual random assignment to either an intervention (
A mixed MANOVA revealed a significant interaction effect between treatment group and time period for the combination of reported energy, stress, daily life satisfaction, and work capacity. Subsequent univariate ANOVAs revealed significant interactions between treatment group and time period for reported energy, stress, and daily life satisfaction; however, not for reported work capacity. Improvements in outcomes were observed for both groups following their completion of the vitality training; however, not all improvements reached statistical significance. Reported self-efficacy regarding managing work-life balance was found to mediate the relationship between the effects of the intervention and reported energy; however, such an effect was not found for stress.
An intervention drawing upon evidence-based behaviour-change techniques shows promise for improving indicators associated with burnout; although, it is recommended that in future research a larger-scale evaluation be conducted over a longer time period with an active control group to establish effectiveness.