Data and metadata for 'Early childhood educators’ wellbeing and physiological stress in the workplace: An exploratory study utilising wearable technology' - submitted 2024

Full description

This study aimed to expand understanding of educator wellbeing by using both subjective and objective measures. The study, with 100 educators in Australia, included subjective measurements of educators’ health and wellbeing using a survey, and objective physiological assessments, including of their stress response, using Hexoskin® wearable technology.

Description of each data variable is provided in the attached metadata file: data description.xlsx

The data is provided in .csv format - in includes 100 participants and 37 variables.

This study was approved by the researchers’ university Human Research Ethics Committee, and was conducted in accordance with the Australian National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2018). No information was collected in the study that could identify participants or services. An information statement was provided to all participants before they commenced the study, and participants gave written informed consent. Participants were free to withdraw from the study at any point.

Invitations to participate that explained the purpose and procedure of the study were initially sent to service directors. Directors could agree to participate themselves and/or invite educators in their service to participate. Once an expression of interest was received, the research team made an appointment with the director/educators to meet in person. After completing the informed consent process, participants’ height, weight and waist circumference were measured, and they were fitted for the Hexoskin® biometric shirt. Finally, they completed the online Early Childhood Educators Well-being Survey (ECEWS) (Wong et al, 2023), which included subjective measures of psychological, physical and work-related wellbeing. On their next scheduled working day, participants wore the Hexoskin® shirt for a full shift.