Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 28;18(2):e0282118.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282118. eCollection 2023.

A scoping review of digital workplace wellness interventions in low- and middle-income countries

Yi Chiann Thai  1 , Deanna Sim  2 , Tracy A McCaffrey  2 , Amutha Ramadas  1 , Hema Malini  3 , Jessica L Watterson  1
Affiliations

A scoping review of digital workplace wellness interventions in low- and middle-income countries

Yi Chiann Thai et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: Digital technology-based interventions have gained popularity over the last two decades, due to the ease with which they are scalable and low in implementation cost. Multicomponent health promotion programmes, with significant digital components, are increasingly being deployed in the workplace to assess and promote employees' health behaviours and reduce risk of chronic diseases. However, little is known about workplace digital health interventions in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs).

Methods: Various combinations of keywords related to "digital health", "intervention", "workplace" and "developing country" were applied in Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, Scopus and Cochrane Library for peer-reviewed articles in English language. Manual searches were performed to supplement the database search. The screening process was conducted in two phases and a narrative synthesis to summarise the data. The review protocol was written prior to undertaking the review (OSF Registry:10.17605/OSF.IO/QPR9J).

Results: The search strategy identified 10,298 publications, of which 24 were included. Included studies employed the following study designs: randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) (n = 12), quasi-experimental (n = 4), pilot studies (n = 4), pre-post studies (n = 2) and cohort studies (n = 2). Most of the studies reported positive feedback of the use of digital wellness interventions in workplace settings.

Conclusions: This review is the first to map and describe the impact of digital wellness interventions in the workplace in LMICs. Only a small number of studies met the inclusion criteria. Modest evidence was found that digital workplace wellness interventions were feasible, cost-effective, and acceptable. However, long-term, and consistent effects were not found, and further studies are needed to provide more evidence. This scoping review identified multiple digital health interventions in LMIC workplace settings and highlighted a few important research gaps.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. PRISMA flow chart of study selection process including reasons for excluded studies.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Distribution of articles by year of publication.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. World Health Organization, Wolf J., Prüss-Ustün A, Ivanov I., Mugdal S., Corvalán C., et al.. Preventing disease through a healthier and safer workplace. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018.
    1. Wipfli H, Zacharias KD, (Nivvy) Hundal N, Shigematsu LMR, Bahl D, Arora M, et al.. Workplace wellness programming in low-and middle-income countries: a qualitative study of corporate key informants in Mexico and India. Global Health 2018;14:46. doi: 10.1186/s12992-018-0362-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baicker K. Do Workplace Wellness Programs Work? JAMA Health Forum 2021;2:e213375. 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.3375. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kigozi J, Jowett S, Lewis M, Barton P, Coast J. The Estimation and Inclusion of Presenteeism Costs in Applied Economic Evaluation: A Systematic Review. Value Health 2017;20:496–506. 10.1016/j.jval.2016.12.006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kirsten W. Making the Link between Health and Productivity at the Workplace ―A Global Perspective. INDUSTRIAL HEALTH 2010;48:251–5. 10.2486/indhealth.48.251. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types