Open AccessDo We Recover from Vacation? Meta‐analysis of Vacation Effects on Health and Well‐being
Author(s) -
Bloom Jessica,
Kompier Michiel,
Geurts Sabine,
Weerth Carolina,
Taris Toon,
Sonnentag Sabine
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of occupational health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 1348-9585
DOI - 10.1539/joh.k8004
Subject(s) - psycinfo , meta analysis , homogeneous , psychology , life satisfaction , affect (linguistics) , well being , outcome (game theory) , medline , medicine , social psychology , mathematics , communication , mathematical economics , psychotherapist , combinatorics , political science , law
Do We Recover from Vacation? Meta‐analysis of Vacation Effects on Health and Wellbeing: Jessica de B loom , et al . Department of Work & Organizational Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, The NetherlandsObjectives The aim of this meta‐analysis is to investigate to what extent vacation has positive effects on health and well‐being, how long such effects endure after work resumption, and how specific vacation activities and experiences affect these relationships. Methods Based on a systematic literature search (PsycInfo, Medline) and methodological exclusion criteria, in a stepwise approach, 7 studies were selected and reviewed. Effect sizes (Cohen's d ) were calculated i) for every outcome variable within every study, ii) for every study by averaging the effect sizes per study, and iii) for homogeneous categories of outcome variables (exhaustion, health complaints, life satisfaction). Results The results suggest that vacation has positive effects on health and well‐being (small effect, d =+0.43), but that these effects soon fade out after work resumption (small effect, d =–0.38). Our research further demonstrated that vacation activities and experiences have hardly been studied. Therefore, their contribution to vacation effect and fade out remains unclear. Discussion Progress in future vacation research will depend on strong research designs that incorporate repeated measurements pre‐, inter‐ and post‐vacation.