EVIDENCE-BASED STRATEGIES AND INTERVENTIONS TO PROMOTE THE HEALTH OF WORKERS TELEWORKING FROM HOME: SCOPING REVIEW

¹Universidad del Desarrollo, Facultad de Medicina, Clínica Alemana Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Santiago, Chile

Background: In this "new era" numerous companies chose to continue in teleworking mode for non-COVID-19 reasons, since it proved to be a highly viable option, but that in turn, it could also provide more health risks. Evidence on interventions and strategies to promote health in teleworkers is limited and poorly understood.

Purpose: To examine the strategies and interventions that promote health during telework present in the literature.

Methods:​Through an exploratory review, scientific databases were searched to find articles that presented a strategy or an intervention that could improve the health of teleworkers. Two review authors independently applied the selection criteria and extracted information systematically. Data were extracted and synthesized in a narrative format.

Results: The search produced 15 relevant articles. Interventions and strategies focused on promoting the physical and mental well-being and health security of teleworkers, mostly in the context of a pandemic. We found a large heterogeneity of types of interventions, strategies, and study designs, mainly were non-intervention studies. Deployment barriers and enablers include challenges in the respect workstation.

Conclusions: Companies should aim to improve the experience of teleworking, considering the environment and organizational aspects, and then establish health promotion activities. However, there is a lack of studies that focus on other health matters, multicomponent interventions that include organizational strategies.

Implications: The result of this review is a synthesis of knowledge based on evidence, where a pool of considerations for the design of interventions in teleworking environments from home will be delivered, as well as the survey of strategies and/or interventions that can give an approximation of the solution to the problems found in the different workplaces.This will be useful to create work or action plans and the design and implementation of interventions by employers or employees, preventionists, human resources and those in charge of promoting health and also collaborate with the development of healthy telework programs in future studies.

Funding acknowledgements: The authors report no funding.

Keywords:
Teleworking
Well-being
Working from home

Topics:
Occupational health & ergonomics
Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: This study is a systematic review of evidence and does not involve human subjects