Participants' experience and adherence in repeated measurement studies among office-based workers

While diary studies, especially when applying ecological momentary assessment (EMA), are a great way to capture self perceptions to later use as labels for other data, they can be a burden for study participants. To increase their adherence to the study design, it is important to tailor it to their needs and take their feedback into account. This paper reports on a data collection process in a study focused on occupational stress. The data collection is briefly described and the participants' responses are analysed in terms of adherence. Participants' feedback was collected at the end of the study and its main themes are summarized. These experiences are compared to the ones in another study focusing on stress and burnout, with a very similar methodological design. Some general conclusions are drawn from both with suggestions on how to best carry out an EMA study.While diary studies, especially when applying ecological momentary assessment (EMA), are a great way to capture self perceptions to later use as labels for other data, they can be a burden for study participants. To increase their adherence to the study design, it is important to tailor it to their needs and take their feedback into account. This paper reports on a data collection process in a study focused on occupational stress. The data collection is briefly described and the participants' responses are analysed in terms of adherence. Participants' feedback was collected at the end of the study and its main themes are summarized. These experiences are compared to the ones in another study focusing on stress and burnout, with a very similar methodological design. Some general conclusions are drawn from both with suggestions on how to best carry out an EMA study.P