The Efficacy of chamomile based anti inflammatory throat spray in the improvement of the biopsychosocial voice handicap index 10 (VHI-10) score among agents in a call center in Makati City- a double-blind placebo randomized controlled trial / Laurenceburg L. Rodriguez, Rebecca R. Feliciano and Mary Rose Adeline M. Guinto.

Includes appendices and bibliographical references.

Summary: Call center workers speak for long periods on the phone, placing significant demands on their voices. This increases the risk of occupational voice disorders, such as musculoskeletal problems caused by muscle tension in the larynx. As well as the physiological demands of talking for long periods, call center agents also have to balance psychological, behavioural and environmental factors to make sure they can interact effectively. The general objective of the study is to determine the efficacy of chamomile based anti-inflammatory throat spray in the improvement of the biopsychosocial voice handicap index 10 (VHI-10) score among agencies in a call center in Makati City. The study was conducted in a call center situated in Makati City, Philippines. A total of 110 call center agents were randomly selected from the total list of personnel employed by the company. All participants underwent thorough history, physical and otolaryngologic examination. The subjects who passed the inclusion and criteria were selected for this study. The participants (n=110) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: chamomile based anti-inflammatory throat spray experimental group (n=55) and sterile water based throat spray placebo control group (n=55). Before the participants used the throat spray, they were asked to fill in a 10 item Voice Handicap Index (VHI) Form prior their 1 week (8 hours/1 day) call center duty. After 1 week of call center duty, all participants in their respective groups used the throat spray for 1 week. Every participant answered the VHI 10 after using the throat spray on the 1st post duty day and at the end of the 1 week study. The voice handicap was evaluated using the VHI scoring system. Microsoft Office Excel 2010 was used for the data encoding and analysis. Descriptive statistics were generated for all variables. For nominal data, frequencies and percentages were computed. For numerical data, the mean and standard deviation were calculated. The paired t-test was used to associate the experimental and control group with numerical data. Differences. were considered statistically significant if p<0.05. Based on the study, the chamomile based anti-inflammatory throat spray is efficacious in the improvement of the biophychosocial voice handicap index 10 (VHI-10) score among agents in one call center in Makati City. Although there is improvement on both VHI scores of the two study groups, the chamomile based anti-inflammatory throat spray is more efficacious compared to placebo in the improvement of the mean average biophychosocial voice handicap index (VHI-10) score among agents in a call center in Makati City. Despite the efficacy of the chamomile based anti-inflammatory throat spray in the improvement of the mean average VHI score, there is no significant difference in the improvement of VHI scores whether placebo or chamomile spray is used with their p-values >0.05.

Research - Department of Otolaryngology