Abstract
BackgroundThe current study examined help-seeking behavior for mental health problems of employees in the mining industry.MethodsThe research involved a paper-based survey completed by a cross-section of employees from eight coalmine sites. The research aimed to investigate the frequency of contact with professional and non-professional sources of support, and to determine the socio-demographic and workplace factors associated.ResultsA total of 1,457 employees participated, of which, 46.6 % of participants reported contact with support to discuss their own mental health within the preceding 12 months. Hierarchical logistic regression revealed a significant contribution of workplace variables, with job security and satisfaction with work significantly associated with help-seeking behavior.ConclusionsThe results provide an insight into the help-seeking behaviour of mining employees, providing useful information to guide mental health workplace program development for the mining industry, and male-dominated industry more broadly.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1755-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The current study examined help-seeking behavior for mental health problems of employees in the mining industry
The approach adopted a number of stratification variables to ensure coverage of coal mining locations (New South Wales [NSW] and Queensland [QLD]; the two primary coal producing states in Australia), mine type, and the two primary types of employee commute arrangements
The eight participating sites contained a representative cross-section of the Australian coal mining industry, with four mining companies, and inclusion of sites from both NSW and QLD, a combination of open cut and underground mining, as well as mines that operated primarily with daily commute and long distance commute workforces
Summary
The current study examined help-seeking behavior for mental health problems of employees in the mining industry. Efforts to understand why service utilization is low and how to overcome limitations of the Previous research has demonstrated a number of sociodemographic correlates of professional mental health service use. Stigmatizing attitudes, including community, workplace and personal stigma have previously been associated with a reduction in service uptake [9] While this evidence is compelling, national population statistics may not necessarily reflect the behaviour of smaller groups, such as workplaces, where little is known about how specific workplace and employment characteristics influence help seeking
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