The Tech4Rest intervention for team truck driver sleep: a pilot study.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Olson, Ryan
• Description:
  The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), caps commercial drivers at 11 driving hours per day. Because compensation is dependent on miles traveled, drivers are fiscally incentivized to reach their 11hr limit. Increased driving time means increased sedentary time which is inversely associated with sleep quality. On average commercial drivers get 1-2 hrs less sleep in the truck berth (approx. 6 hrs) compared to at-home. 7-8 hrs of sleep is needed to avoid fatigue and performance deficits. Although commercial drivers crash only 50% as often as passenger drivers, research shows a clear correlation between fatigue and crash risk. Team truck drivers, that work in pairs where one person drives while the other sleeps, are at particularly high risk for sleep disturbances and fatigue. Sleeping in the berth, team drivers experience four times more nightly awakenings than solo drivers. Teams spend most off-duty time in their truck, which can operate for 22/24 hrs daily, leaving minimal opportunities for physical activity. Extended sedentary time, shift work, and whole body vibrations (WBV) converge in a team trucking environment making sufficient sleep difficult to achieve. The health consequences of disturbed sleep and WBV exposure, coupled with the high-risk of fatigued driving, signal need for team driver sleep interventions. Tech4Rest is part of the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center (OHWC), a NIOSH center of excellence in Total Worker Health® (TWH). Informed by the hierarchy of controls for TWH, Tech4Rest (NIOSH U19OH010154) evaluates interventions to improve sleep, health, and well-being for team truck drivers, by assessing truck cab enhancements alone, and combined with a behavioral sleep/health program. The current presentation will report Tech4Rest pilot study results. Methods. Tech4Rest's pilot study had two phases. In phase one (data collection completed) team drivers (four teams; n=8) sequentially evaluated a new coil spring mattress then Thevorelief mattress for 2-3 weeks, with measurements at baseline and during/after each condition. In phase two (data collection underway) four additional teams (n=8) evaluate the mattresses in reverse order then spend 3 months in a multi-component phase including their preferred mattress, a ClearMotion Active Suspension Seat, and a sleep/health program named Fit4Sleep. Prior research has established this seat's vibration and fatigue reducing effects. Modeled on effective interventions, Fit4Sleep is a web-based walking competition involving behavioral self-monitoring (walking, sleep hygiene), health coaching calls, and online training. Measures include self-reported sleep (quality and quantity), fatigue, and well-being. Self-report measures included: PSQI, PROMIS Sleep Related Impairment (SRI), Sleep Hygiene Index, PROMIS Global Health, Swedish Occupational Fatigue Inventory (SOFI), Healthy Physical Activity (HPA), and seat/mattress comfort items. Additionally, drivers complete daily pre and post shift surveys, 5-minute Psychomotor Vigilance Tasks (PVT), and wear accelerometers (model [wrist=wGT3x-BT] [hip=GT3X+], ActiGraph, Pensacola, FL) to measure sleep and physical activity. Axivity accelerometers (AX3, Axivity, Newcastle, UK) are placed on the Truck's seat cushion, floor, mattress frame, and mattress top to measure WBV exposures, and a GPS (CR-Q1100P GPS, QSTARZ, Taipei, Taiwan) is installed. Partner companies provide driving logs with work status (on/off duty, driving, sleeper berth), mileage, and potential indicators of performance or fatigue (e.g., miles per gallon, hard braking). Results. At the conference we will report results from the two phaseTech4Rest pilot study (n=16), and can currently report preliminary descriptive results from phase one (n=8). In self-report surveys, total sleep time (range = 6.23 hrs to 6.75 hrs) and sleep quality (range = 1.63 to 2.0 /3.0) were similar across conditions. Analyses of phase one sleep actigraphy and PVT data are underway. Although sleep duration/quality differences have yet to emerge, Thevorelief did reduce sleep related impairment (M=3.75, SD=3.33)) compared to the original (M=7.13, SD=3.64) or coil spring (M=6.88, SD=4.82). On average, participants found Thevorelief more comfortable on a seven point scale (M=6.06, SD=0.58) than the control (M=3.98, SD=1.87) or original mattress (M=2.85, SD=0.97). Additionally, all drivers have kept the Thevorelief, indicating it as their preference. Preliminary WBV results show that Thevorelief may attenuate WBV exposures at 2-4 hz, 12-14 hz, and 27-28 hz frequencies. Differences appear greatest at 12-14 hz. The second phase of the Tech4Rest pilot study, to evaluate the multi-component intervention, is currently underway. Data collection will be completed by May 2019, and results will be available for the conference. DISCUSSION: While preliminary, our results suggest that the Thevorelief mattress is preferred by teams and may reduce sleep related impairment during waking hours. This may be due to its impact on the profile of vibrations to which drivers are exposed, but more data and analyses is needed. With the additional intervention components (Seat, Fit4Sleep) in phase two, we hypothesis that beneficial effects will be additive. Discussion of pilot phase two will emphasize the additive effects of the seat and Fit4Sleep program. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Fatigue Occupational Health Safety Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders Transportation
• Keywords:
  Total Worker Health; TWH; Transportation workers; Truck drivers; Trucking; Sleep deprivation; Behavior; Intervention effectiveness; Fatigue
• Publisher:
  American Psychological Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065754
• Citation:
  Work, Stress and Health 2019, November 6-9, 2019, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2019 Nov; :329
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• NORA Priority Area:
  Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities ; Services
• Performing Organization:
  Oregon Health & Science University, Portland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20110901
• Source Full Name:
  Work, Stress and Health 2019, November 6-9, 2019, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:64df2224d82d03f573a3c9b92406abb8f77bc4613ecd38cd1c7be7782a6a390d777a1313a138ceef19481e4ebe4e52c4f3a53991e665d62221754dc7f2913d30
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/249538/cdc_249538_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 108.66 KB ]