Chill for the Summer: A Brief Intervention to Reduce Stress in the Workplace

Background: High levels of stress can harm workers’ physical health, psychological well-being, and productivity.  Wellness programs in the workplace have the potential to reduce stress and stress-related health problems, improving workers’ quality of life and job performance.

Methods: A total of 215 employees at Lancaster General Health in Lancaster, Pennsylvania completed a six-week stress-reduction program in July and August 2014.  The participants chose one stress-management strategy (time management, journaling, or meditation) to practice for 6 weeks and received a weekly email with 2-3 specific activities to complete.  Before and after the program, the participants reported how often they practiced stress-reduction strategies and completed the 4-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS).

Results: Of the participants, 90% reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the program. From pre-test to post-test, the number of employees who practiced stress-reduction techniques “very often” increased from 43 to 115.  Among the 215 employees who completed the challenge, 74% decreased their PSS score, and the average PSS score decreased from 6.39 (pre-challenge) to 4.09 (post-challenge). 

Conclusions: A brief workplace intervention successfully increased employees’ use of stress-reduction techniques and decreased perceived stress immediately after the intervention.