NHS Staff Digital Wellbeing Via AirEmail

Launched by AIREMAIL HOLDINGS LIMITED · Oct 30, 2023

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying a new email management tool called "AirEmail" to see if it can help NHS staff manage their emails better and improve their overall wellbeing. The researchers want to understand how stress from technology, known as "technostress," affects NHS employees and whether using AirEmail can make them more productive and feel better about their digital communication. Participants will use AirEmail for four weeks while their email habits are observed for two weeks before and after this period.

To join the study, participants must be NHS staff who regularly use Microsoft Outlook for email, are at least 18 years old, and have been employed at the same NHS trust for at least three months. They should also receive or send a significant number of emails daily or feel overwhelmed managing their email. Those who participate will undergo some training, and their email usage will be monitored to see if AirEmail makes a difference. This trial is currently recruiting participants, so if you meet the criteria and are interested, you could help improve wellbeing in the workplace!

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 1. NHS staff employed at a participating NHS organisation with an active NHS IT account, Microsoft 365 access, and routinely using the Microsoft Outlook app on a computer for email management.
• • 2. Age ≥ 18 years.
• • 3. Able to communicate fluently in English.
• • 4. Have been employed in the same NHS trust for at least 3 months prior to study participation and likely remain employed in the same NHS trust for another at least 3 months.
• • 5. Contracted to work for ≥0.5 full-time equivalent (FTE).
• • 6. Willing to complete study assessments and agree to non-identifiable email usage data being collected for the duration of the study.
• • 7. Currently has (or agrees to create prior to joining the study) ≥500 megabytes of available storage in their NHSmail inbox (the usual total storage capacity of which is 4 gigabytes), and agrees not to exceed their NHSmail storage quota for the duration of the trial to ensure NHSmail performance is not adversely affected by the AirEmail Digital Tool processing and the study data collection.
• • 8. Willing and able to engage IT support to seek resolution of email related issues as required.
• • 9. Meets at least one of the following criteria: a) Receives ≥50 emails a day, or b) sends ≥20 emails a day, or c) spends ≥2 hours in email management on a busy day, in/from their individual inbox, or d) feels dissatisfied with their ability to manage email to an acceptable standard.
• • 10. Willing and able to complete study training activities - estimated to require approximately 45 minutes over a period of maximum 2 weeks - and to configure their email and use the AirEmail v1 features as part of their NHS employment for the duration of the study.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Currently absent from work for a period lasting, or likely to last, ≥4 weeks, or have returned from long-term absence/leave of ≥4 weeks in ≤4 weeks before joining the study.
• • 2. Plans to take ≥8 working days of Annual Leave coinciding with study participation.
• • 3. Currently participating in another interventional study in the field of digital wellbeing or digital communications.
• • 4. Receives high-volume, high-risk patient-related communication. Note: This would apply for staff employed in clinical pathway coordinator roles, or similar, where even an hour of downtime would compromise patient care.
• • 5. Has any specific accessibility requirements not catered for by the AirEmail v1 application (for example colour blindness which makes seeing highlighted words in Outlook a problem).
• • 6. Relies on using Microsoft Outlook's "categories" feature to manage administrative or clinical workflows.