Background: Line managers play a key role in preventing poor mental health but often lack necessary skills and knowledge. Existing interventions typically focus on mental health awareness rather than practical skills. The evidence-based Managing Minds at Work (MMW) web-based training program was developed to address this gap by enhancing line managers' confidence and competence in prevention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is limited evidence about how vocational rehabilitation (VR) for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) can be delivered through the United Kingdom's (UK) National Health Service (NHS) and how it works.
Aim: To understand the mechanisms and context for implementing a VR intervention for people with MS in the NHS and develop an explanatory programme theory.
Methods: A realist evaluation, including a review of evidence followed by semi-structured interviews.
Background: There is an urgent need to better understand the factors that predict mental wellbeing in vocationally active adults during globally turbulent times.
Aim: To explore the relationship between psychological detachment from work (postulated as a key recovery activity from work) in the first national COVID-19 lockdown with health, wellbeing, and life satisfaction of working age-adults one year later, within the context of a global pandemic.
Methods: Wellbeing of the Workforce (WoW) was a prospective longitudinal cohort study, with two waves of data collection (Time 1, April-June 2020: T1 n = 337; Time 2, March-April 2021: T2 = 169) corresponding with the first and third national COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK.
Purpose: To implement a job retention vocational rehabilitation (VR) intervention (MSVR) for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their employers in the UK National Health Service (NHS).
Methods: Multicentre, single-arm feasibility study with post-intervention interviews. MSVR was delivered by an occupational therapist (OT).
Background: To explore how a vocational rehabilitation (VR) intervention can be integrated within existing healthcare services for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS).
Methods: Data from 37 semi-structured interviews with 22 people with MS, eight employers, and seven healthcare professionals were analysed using a framework method informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and an intervention logic model.
Results: Four themes were identified relating to the structure of current NHS services, how to improve access to and awareness of VR services, the collaboration between internal and external networks, and the benefits of integrating VR within the NHS services.
PLOS Digit Health
July 2024
Over recent decades the use of smartphones for work purposes has burgeoned both within and beyond working hours. The aim of the study was to conduct a scoping review to explore the association between the use of smartphone technology for work purposes in off-job hours with employees' self-reported work-life conflict. Arksey and O'Malley's methodological framework was adopted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Line manager (LM) training in mental health is gaining recognition as an effective method for improving the mental health and wellbeing of workers. However, research predominantly focuses on the impacts of training at the employee-level, often neglecting the broader organisational-level outcomes. Most studies derive insights from LMs using self-reported data, with very few studies examining impacts on organisational-level outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: a sizable proportion of the working population has a disability that is not visible. Many choose not to disclose this at work, particularly in educational workplaces where disability is underrepresented. A better understanding of the barriers and facilitators to disclosure is needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mental health problems affect 1 in 6 workers annually and are one of the leading causes of sickness absence, with stress, anxiety, and depression being responsible for half of all working days lost in the United Kingdom. Primary interventions with a preventative focus are widely acknowledged as the priority for workplace mental health interventions. Line managers hold a primary role in preventing poor mental health within the workplace and, therefore, need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to effectively carry out this role.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Health Serv Res
September 2023
Background: Managing long-term sickness absence is challenging in countries where employers and managers have the main responsibility to provide return to work support, particularly for workers with poor mental health. Whilst long-term sick leave and return to work frameworks and guidance exist for employers, there are currently no structured return to work protocols for employers or for their workers encompassing best practice strategies to support a positive and timely return to work outcome.
Purpose: To utilise the intervention mapping (IM) protocol as a framework to develop return to work toolkits that are underpinned by relevant behaviour change theory targeting mental health to promote a positive return to work experiensce for workers on long-term sick leave.
Objectives: Studies have demonstrated an association between doctors' perceived working conditions, and their psychological well-being and patient care. However, few have examined inter-relationships among these three domains, and even fewer using longitudinal designs. Using meta-analytical structural equation modelling, we tested longitudinal relationships among doctors' perceived working conditions, their psychological well-being and patient care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a growing body of research examining the nature and correlates of salutogenic factors in the workplace and employee wellbeing, and the role of empowerment therewithin. A paucity of research has distinguished between structural and psychological forms of empowerment in the workplace and examined how they independently and collectively relate to employee wellbeing. Much of the existing research has examined such considerations in western samples, with limited exploration of eastern working populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The cost of sickness absence has major social, psychological and financial implications for individuals and organisations. Return-to-work (RTW) interventions that support good quality communication and contact with the workplace can reduce the length of sickness absence by between 15 and 30 days. However, initiatives promoting a sustainable return to work for workers with poor mental health on long-term sickness absence across small, medium and large enterprises (SMEs and LEs) are limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
June 2022
Mental ill-health is the leading cause of sickness absence, creating a high economic burden. Workplace interventions aimed at supporting employers in the prevention of mental ill-health in the workforce are urgently required. Managing Minds at Work is a digital intervention aimed at supporting line managers in promoting better mental health at work through a preventative approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWorld J Surg
January 2022
Background: Surgeon burnout has implications for patient safety and workforce sustainability. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of burnout among surgeons in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: This cross-sectional online survey was set in the UK National Health Service and involved 601 surgeons across the UK of all specialities and grades.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
March 2021
The development and enhancement of occupational health services (OHS) at the national level is central to ensuring the sustainable health, well-being and work engagement of the working population. However, due to differences in national health, social security and occupational safety and health systems, the content, capacity, coverage and provisions of OHS vary considerably across national contexts. Obtaining a better understanding in terms of such similarities and variations internationally is essential as such comparative information can help inform evidenced-based decision-making on OHS at both policy and practice levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
December 2020
We aimed to explore student and staff perceptions and experiences of a pilot SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic testing service (P-ATS) in a UK university campus setting. This was a mixed-method study comprised of an online survey, and thematic analysis of qualitative data from interviews and focus groups conducted at the mid-point and end of the 12-week P-ATS programme. Ninety-nine students (84.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The objectives of this study are twofold. First, to examine the direct effect of psychosocial work characteristics (as measured by job autonomy and work-related pressure) in relation to self-reported psychological morbidity symptoms and early retirement intentions among a sample of hospital consultants in the National Health Service (NHS). Second, to investigate burnout as mediating variable (ie, indirect effect) of these postulated associations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The high prevalence of burnout and depression among doctors highlights the need to understand the psychosocial antecedents to their work-related well-being. However, much of the existing research has been atheoretical, operationalized a narrow measurement of well-being, and predominantly examined such relationships at the individual level.
Purpose: This study uses a multilevel perspective to examine individual (i.
J Occup Health Psychol
January 2018
A systematic review of the available evidence examining the cost of work-related stress (WRS) would yield important insights into the magnitude of this social phenomenon. The objective of this review was to collate, extract, and synthesize economic evaluations of the cost of WRS to society. A research protocol was developed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Promot Int
October 2017
A growing literature now exists examining the relationship between organizational justice and employees' experience of stress. Despite the growth in this field of enquiry, there remain continued gaps in knowledge. In particular, the contribution of perceptions of justice to employees' stress within an organizational context of uncertainty and change, and in relation to the new and emerging concept of procedural-voice justice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study explored women's experiences of working through menopausal transition in the UK. It aimed to identify the perceived effects of menopausal symptoms on working life, to outline the perceived effects of work on menopausal symptoms, and to provide recommendations for women, healthcare practitioners and employers.
Methods: An electronic questionnaire was distributed to women aged 45-55 in professional, managerial and administrative (non-manual) occupations in 10 organisations.