Launching DESTRESS: Tackling stress in the workplace before it's too late
On September 12, 2024, Amsterdam UMC, in collaboration with public and private partners, launched the groundbreaking national project DESTRESS. This initiative focuses on early recognition of stress in employees. Initiator Christiaan Vinkers, psychiatrist and professor of Stress and Resilience: "At a time when stress levels are reaching unprecedented heights, the consequences for both employees and organizations are enormous. Every year, psychological complaints cause millions of days of absence and billions of euros in costs, and this is rising. With an innovative approach, we want to break this pattern. If we are able to recognize stress at an early stage, employee, employer and occupational health and safety professional can do something about it together before it is too late."
Working Netherlands healthier and more resilient
Stress in the workplace can be caused by issues at work or in the private situation. Making stress symptoms known and discussing them is not always obvious. As a result, mounting stress is often noticed too late, sometimes resulting in long-term absence from work. That is why within DESTRESS reliable stress signals are measured with e.g. wearables and factors that cause stress are mapped out, both in the private situation and in the work and working environment. "This combination of signals and factors are then fed back with an application based on artificial intelligence (AI) in an ethically responsible and safe way," says Noortje Wiezer, principal consultant at the Healthy Living & Work Unit of knowledge institute TNO: "In this way we strengthen the dialogue between employees and employers, supported by health and safety professionals where necessary. As a result, stress does not get a chance to escalate and we contribute to a healthier and more resilient working Netherlands."
Collaboration between science and practice
DESTRESS will be implemented over the next 8 years by a multidisciplinary public-private consortium and funded by NWO. Researchers, professionals and experts by experience are working with employers, unions, ministries and professional associations to measure stress signals and develop the application. Occupational health and safety services also play a crucial role in the project. "In order to prevent and reduce absenteeism due to stress, we bring in the experiential knowledge of our occupational health and safety professionals, anonymized data and our network of organizations where measurements can be taken," says Jurriaan Penders, director of medical affairs at HumanTotalCare. Medical Director Talitha de Haas of paraDIGMA groep adds: "This collaboration between science and practice is unique. And because we are both involved from the beginning of the project, we ensure that we will soon be able to implement the application immediately."
Working together for a change in the Netherlands
On Sept. 12, all partners of the DESTRESS consortium met for the first time at the Volkshotel in Amsterdam for a festive and flying start. "In the collaboration, the partners can take full advantage of each other's expertise. Whether it's determining what is ethical and legally permissible, or measuring stressors in organizations and employees, we need to work together. That's why during the launch we encouraged knowledge exchange and forged small coalitions so that people can easily find each other," Vinkers said. To make DESTRESS known to the general public, podcasts were also recorded during the launch. "My dream is for all of the working Netherlands to benefit from DESTRESS. Therefore, together with my consortium partners, I like to explain in plain language how they can benefit from it."
Making a difference in absenteeism (prevention)
The study consists of three major phases with paraDIGMA groep involved in each phase. Talitha de Haas, Medical Director at paraDIGMA groep: "In the first phase, which lasts until 2025, we are going to focus on outlining the profile of suitable participants. We will look at demographic, sociocultural and economic characteristics. We also look at all the knowledge and information we already possess from within the organization, and how we can involve that in the research."
De Haas emphasizes the value of collaboration in the DESTRESS project. "I think it is very important that we collaborate with science from paraDIGMA groep . This research distinguishes itself from other large studies by the cooperation between large parties to arrive at a tool that is also developed and used for and by everyone. DESTRESS is also fully in line with paraDIGMA groep 's mission to make and keep all of the Netherlands sustainably employable.
I think it is very important for both paraDIGMA groep and the clients to be able to contribute to the research and thus work on the sustainable employability of the Netherlands. We hope that the application will lead us to reduce the share of stress complaints in the context of absence prevention. The research gives various specialists from the field the opportunity to contribute to this groundbreaking project, for example, a number of professionals are going to do a PhD on this research. In the coming years we will continue to go public with the progress of the research."
About the partners of DESTRESS
DESTRESS is conducted by a multidisciplinary, public-private consortium. First, a wide range of researchers are connected from Amsterdam UMC, the Free University (VU), Radboud University, Radboudumc, Donders Institute, TNO, University Medical Center Utrecht, Hanze University Groningen, University of Groningen and Heidelberg University. During the project, experiential knowledge is deployed in collaboration with MIND. In addition, national and international partners from the field will ensure optimal implementation: HumanTotalCare, paraDIGMA groep, Nationale-Nederlanden (NN), Movir, Healthy Chronos and UWV. Finally, the project is supported by AWVN, CNV, FNV, KOM, Landelijke Vereniging POH-GGZ, Ministry of VWS, Ministry of SZW, NIP, NVAB, NVVA, NVVG, NVvP, OVAL, VRelax, VNO/NCW, MKB Nederland, VZN, Zorgverzekeraars Nederland, ECNP, GAMIAN-Europes and PEROSH. DESTRESS is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), falls within the program of the National Science Agenda and lasts 8 years.
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