Friedrich Julian, Schick Teresa S, Mess Filip, Blaschke Simon
TUM School of Medicine and Health, Department of Health and Sports Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Aug 22;25(1):2893. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-24262-2.
Global climate change poses a challenge to the health prevention of heat-exposed outdoor workers. Interventions with mobile or wearable devices monitoring physiological and environmental parameters may be one solution to maintain and promote their health. Based on the recognized potential of wearables in mitigating heat stress, a detailed analysis of the contextual factors, mechanisms, and outcomes of wearable device-based interventions is lacking. A scoping review was carried out to address the objectives of contextual analysis, fundamental mechanisms, and an assessment of outcomes to propose an explanatory intervention model based on the findings.
Web of Science and PubMed databases were searched by search strings related to (1) wearables (2), outdoor workers, and (3) heat stress. Study characteristics and relevant data regarding the context-mechanism-outcome configurations were extracted and analyzed.
Out of 410 articles detected, 19 publications were eligible for in-depth review. Wearables are well-accepted for the prevention of heat stress symptoms. By recording relevant indicators, i.e., heart rate and temperature, real-time health alerts can be issued as risk-based early warnings, and personalized feedback or recommendations towards behavior adaptation can be generated. A high risk of occupational heat stress was identified for construction, agriculture, and groundwork workers. Heat-exposed outdoor workers were mainly young to middle-aged males and often overweight or obese, with increased heart and breathing rates in hot work environments. Wearable device-based interventions are particularly effective if a mindset of safety culture is present in the workplace and environmental health literacy is promoted to increase heat risk awareness and willingness to change work health behavior.
Based on these findings, we developed an explanatory intervention model. This model draws on well-established frameworks, theories, and models. It helps to identify, describe, and explain what works, for whom, and under what circumstances in the context of wearable usage in heat-exposed outdoor workers. Incorporating environmental health literacy and precision prevention in occupational health approaches with continuous monitoring of environmental and physiological parameters will allow for real-time, tailored feedback, leading to more effective heat stress prevention.
全球气候变化对户外高温作业工人的健康预防构成挑战。利用移动或可穿戴设备监测生理和环境参数的干预措施可能是维护和促进他们健康的一种解决方案。尽管可穿戴设备在减轻热应激方面的潜力已得到认可，但缺乏对基于可穿戴设备干预措施的背景因素、机制和结果的详细分析。开展了一项范围综述，以实现背景分析、基本机制以及结果评估的目标，从而根据研究结果提出一个解释性干预模型。
通过与（1）可穿戴设备、（2）户外工作者和（3）热应激相关的检索词，检索科学网和PubMed数据库。提取并分析了有关背景 - 机制 - 结果配置的研究特征和相关数据。
在检测到的410篇文章中，19篇出版物符合深入综述的条件。可穿戴设备在预防热应激症状方面很受欢迎。通过记录心率和体温等相关指标，可以发出基于风险的实时健康警报，并生成针对行为调整的个性化反馈或建议。建筑工人、农业工人和基础作业工人被确定为职业热应激的高风险人群。户外高温作业工人主要是中青年男性，往往超重或肥胖，在高温工作环境中心率和呼吸频率会增加。如果工作场所存在安全文化思维模式，并提高环境健康素养以增强热风险意识和改变工作健康行为的意愿，基于可穿戴设备的干预措施将特别有效。
基于这些发现，我们开发了一个解释性干预模型。该模型借鉴了成熟的框架、理论和模型。它有助于识别、描述和解释在户外高温作业工人使用可穿戴设备的背景下，什么有效、对谁有效以及在什么情况下有效。将环境健康素养和精准预防纳入职业健康方法，并持续监测环境和生理参数，将实现实时、量身定制的反馈，从而更有效地预防热应激。
