Verification of Mental Stress Reduction Effects of Exercise Support Apps and Communication Support App for Corporate Health Management

Abstract

This study examined the effects of three exercise support apps (walking (WA)/fast walking (FW)/indoor exercise (IE) apps) and a communication (CO) support app on mental stress with the aim of realizing corporate health management. Six groups were set up with a combination of the three exercise support apps and with and without the CO app. Thirty employees in each group continuously used their assigned apps for 10 weeks. In the group using the WA app, frustration significantly decreased (-22%). In the group using the IE app, total mental stress (-14%), frustration (-19%), fatigue (-21%), anxiety (-23%), and depression (-22%) decreased. In the group using the WA and CO apps together, fatigue decreased (-20%). In the group using the FW and CO apps, total mental stress (15%), fatigue (-23%), and anxiety (-34%) decreased. These results indicate that negative emotions (frustration, fatigue, anxiety, and depression) can be alleviated by our apps, but positive emotions (liveliness) and physical sensations (physical complaints) are not affected. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to these mental stress reduction effects. There were no main effects for all indicators, but simple main effects were calculated for those that had interactions: fatigue under the WA app condition $(\mathrm{p}\lt 0.05)$ and anxiety under the FW app condition $(\mathrm{p}\lt 0.01)$ decreased more when the CO app was used. However, frustration decreased more under the IE app condition when the CO app was not used $(\mathrm{p}\lt 0.05)$. These results indicate that the combination of an exercise support app and a communication support app has different effects on mental stress reduction. In the future, the proposed apps are expected to help prevent mental illness and realize corporate health management.