Abstract
ObjectiveCommon mental disorders like mood and anxiety disorders and somatoform disorders have high costs, yet under-treatment is still frequent. Many people with common mental disorders are employed, so the workplace is potentially a suitable context in which to provide early treatment. Our study investigates whether a change of setting (workplace versus standard care) improves access to treatment for common mental disorders.MethodsConditional latent profile analysis was applied to identify user profiles for work ability (WAI), clinical symptoms like depression (patient health questionnaire depression, PHQ-9), health-related quality of life (QoL, SF-12), and work-related stress (Maslach Burnout Inventory, irritation scale). Patients were recruited consecutively, via psychotherapeutic consultation in the workplace (n = 174) or psychotherapeutic consultation in outpatient care (n = 193).ResultsWe identified four user profiles in our model: ‘severe’ (n = 99), ‘moderate I—low QoL’ (n = 88), ‘moderate II—low work ability’ (n = 83), and ‘at risk’ (n = 97). The ‘at risk’ profile encompassed individuals with reduced work ability (36.0, 34.73 to 37.37), only mild clinical symptoms (PHQ-9 5.7, 4.92 to 6.53), no signs of work-related stress and good quality of life. A higher proportion of the ‘at risk’ group than of the ‘severe’ group sought help via the psychotherapeutic consultation in the workplace (OR 0.287, P < 0.01); this effect remained after controlling for gender.ConclusionsOffering secondary mental health care in the workplace is feasible and accepted by users. Offering treatment in the workplace as an alternative to standard outpatient settings is a viable strategy for improving access to treatment for common mental disorders.
Highlights
The workplace has been internationally promoted as a pivotal social context to address individuals early in the course of common mental disorders (CMD), like mood and anxiety disorders and somatoform disorders [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Offering treatment in the workplace as an alternative to standard outpatient settings is a viable strategy for improving access to treatment for common mental disorders
We set out to investigate whether the worksite mental health care offer of “psychotherapeutic consultation in the workplace” (PSIW) [7,8] compared to “psychotherapeutic outpatient care” (PSOC), as a part of the existing comprehensive mental health care system within Germany, improves access for individuals with CMD
Summary
The workplace has been internationally promoted as a pivotal social context to address individuals early in the course of common mental disorders (CMD), like mood and anxiety disorders and somatoform disorders [1,2,3,4,5,6]. There has been no investigation as to whether changing the context of a mental health care offer to the worksite improves access for individuals with CMD in a mental health care system like Germany. We set out to investigate whether the worksite mental health care offer of “psychotherapeutic consultation in the workplace” (PSIW) [7,8] compared to “psychotherapeutic outpatient care” (PSOC), as a part of the existing comprehensive mental health care system within Germany, improves access for individuals with CMD. Men report remarkably low and delayed utilisation rates for mental health care [18,19]
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