Journal Article

Mental Health Promotion and Intervention in Occupational Settings: Protocol for a Pilot Study of the MENTUPP Intervention

Birgit Aust, Paul Corcoran, Eve Griffin, Ella Arensman, Gentiana Qirjako, Victoria Ross, Lars de Winter, Johanna Cresswell-Smith, Ulrich Hegerl, Caleb Leduc, Grace Cully, Naim Fanaj, Wendy Orchard, Fotini Tsantila, Birgit A. Greiner, György Purebl, Arlinda Cerga Pashoja, Sharna Mathieu, Doireann Ní Dhálaigh, Laura Cox, Carolyn Holland, Charlotte Paterson, Ana Moreno-Alcázar, Evelien Coppens, Chantal Van Audenhove, Hanna Reich, Cliodhna O’Connor

2022

Overview

Depression and anxiety are the most prevalent mental health difficulties in the EU, causing immense suffering and costing the global economy EUR 1 trillion each year in lost productivity. Employees in construction, health and information and communications technology have an elevated risk of mental health difficulties. Most mental health interventions for the workplace have been targeted at larger companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often overlooked despite most people being employed in SMEs. The MENTUPP intervention aims to improve mental health and wellbeing and reduce depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviour. The MENTUPP project involves the development, implementation, and evaluation of a multilevel intervention targeting both clinical and non-clinical mental health issues and combating the stigma of mental (ill-)health, with a specific focus on SMEs. The intervention is underpinned by a framework of how to create a mentally healthy workplace by employing an integrated approach and has been informed by several systematic reviews designed to understand organisational mental health interventions and a consultation survey with key experts in the area. The intervention is facilitated through the MENTUPP Hub, an online platform that presents interactive psychoeducational materials, toolkits, and links to additional resources in an accessible and user-friendly manner. This paper presents the pilot study protocol for delivering the MENTUPP intervention in eight European countries and Australia. Each intervention country will aim to recruit at least 23 participants in 1–3 SMEs in one of the three high-risk sectors. The central aim of the pilot study will be to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and uptake of the MENTUPP intervention across the target SMEs. The findings will contribute to devising the protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) of the MENTUPP intervention. Findings from this study will also be used to inform the optimisation phase of the MENTUPP intervention which will aim to improve the materials and the implementation of the intervention as well as enhancing the evaluation strategy which will be employed for the cRCT.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,MDPI
• Subject: Anxiety / Anxiety Disorders / Depression / Employees / Global economy / Health aspects / Health Promotion / Health Promotion - methods / Health surveys / Humans / Mental depression / Mental disorders / Mental Health / mental health and well-being / occupational / Occupational Health / Occupational stress / Organisational interventions / Pilot Projects / Process evaluation / Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / self-harm / Small and medium sized companies / suicidal behaviour / suicide / Suicides & suicide attempts / Workplace / workplace health / Workplace health promotion / workplace-based health interventions / workplace-based health interventions; organisational interventions; workplace health promotion; process evaluation; mental health and well-being; occupational; depression; suicide; suicidal behaviour; self-harm