(P06-049-23) Monitoring Well-Being in Healthcare Workers Receiving the Lab4P Probiotic: A Smartphone Approach via the Trialflare App

Objectives: The preservation of staff well-being in the workplace is vital to support performance and attendance, especially during the winter period which is associated with deteriorations in mental health and increased incidence of seasonal colds and flu. Such issues are amplified within the UK healthcare setting due to: (i) the stress of dealing with increased patient numbers, and (ii) increased susceptibility to respiratory infection. The Lab4P consortium of probiotics (ProVen) has been shown to improve participant-perceived mood ratings and reduce the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections in free-living general population during the winter period. The objectives were to assess (i) the amenability of healthcare workers to probiotic supplementation, and (ii) the impact of daily probiotic supplementation on the well-being of healthcare workers via the Trialflare smartphone app.

Methods: Adverts were placed in healthcare and non-healthcare settings offering an 8 week supply of the ProVen Lab4P probiotic and the opportunity to self-monitor general well-being via the Trialflare data capture platform on Apple/Android smartphones, all whilst retaining absolute anonymity and without any direct contact with study organisers.

Results: Here we present the findings of a preliminary analysis comparing uptake rates of the probiotic supplement and Trialflare in healthcare and non-healthcare workers and, in volunteers using Trialflare, a comparison of participant-perceived quality-of-life (including mood), incidence rates of upper respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal disturbances and performance in mental agility test (Word-colour Stroop).

Conclusions: We conclude that the Trialflare app is suitable for gathering participant-perceived well-being data, symptom data and mental agility data over the winter period in healthcare workers and volunteers receiving Lab4P probiotics. The platform can also help support compliance by using automated smartphone push notifications. However, to assess the impact of Lab4P supplementation and Trialflare more fully in this context, randomised placebo-controlled trials are required.

Funding Sources: Cultech Ltd