Analyses of data from a randomized field experiment with 1,801 participants (A. D. Vinokur, R. H. Price, & Y. Schul, 1995) examined the long-term effects of a job-search workshop (JOBS) and the independent effects of demographic and psychological factors on reemployment and mental health outcomes. Two years after the JOBS workshop, the experimental group had significantly higher levels of reemployment and monthly income, lower levels of depressive symptoms, lower likelihood of experiencing a major depressive episode in the last year, and better role and emotional functioning compared with the control group. Baseline job-search motivation and sense of mastery had both direct and interactive effects (with experimental condition) on reemployment and mental health outcomes, respectively. The interactive effects demonstrated larger benefits for those who had initial low levels of job-search motivation and mastery.

A resource-building group intervention was developed to enhance career management, mental health, and job retention in work organizations. The in-company training program provided employees with better preparedness to manage their own careers. The program activities were universally implemented using an organization-level, 2-trainer model with trainers from the human resources management and occupational health services. The study was a within-organizations, randomly assigned field experimental study; it investigated the impacts of the intervention on immediate career management preparedness and later mental health and intentions to retire early. A total of 718 eligible individuals returned a questionnaire in 17 organizations and became voluntary participants. The respondents were randomly assigned to either an intervention (N = 369) or a comparison group (N = 349). Those in the intervention group were invited to group intervention workshops, whereas those in the comparison group received printed information about career and health-related issues. The 7-month follow-up results showed that the program significantly decreased depressive symptoms and intentions to retire early and increased mental resources among the group participants compared to the others. The mediation analyses demonstrated that the increase in career management preparedness as a proximal impact of the intervention mediated the longer term mental health effects. Those who benefited most from the intervention as regards their mental health were employees with elevated levels of depression or exhaustion and younger employees, implying additional benefits of a more targeted use of the intervention. The results demonstrated the benefits of the enhancement of individual-level career management and resilience resources as career and health promotion practice in work organizations.

The importance of strengthening research on the implementation and dissemination of promotion, prevention and service delivery interventions in the mental health field needs to be emphasized. The complexity of mental health and its broader conceptualisation requires complementary research approaches and interdisciplinary collaboration to better serve the needs of the European population.

The impact of preventive interventions for the unemployed may vary depending on the context of the labor policies and benefit systems of the country where it is implemented. The Työhön Job Search Program was based on a method developed in the United States for recently unemployed workers. This study examined outcomes of the intervention in the context of the European labor market for participants who had been unemployed for a longer period. A total of 1,261 unemployed Finnish job seekers participated in a randomized field study. At the 6-month follow-up, the program had a beneficial impact on the quality of reemployment, especially among those who had been unemployed for a moderate time period. The program also significantly decreased psychological distress.

SummaryPrevious studies that have demonstrated the beneficial effects of the Työhön Job Search Intervention for job seekers on re-employment and mental health have not revealed the specific mediators of these effects. The present study examined two specific mediators that were targeted by the intervention, job-search self-efficacy and inoculation against setbacks, as components of a global construct referred to as job-search preparedness. The hypothesis that job-search preparedness is the main mediator of the effects of the intervention on the outcomes was then tested using data from the 1261 participants of the Finnish Työhön Job Search Intervention study. ANOVA demonstrated that the Työhön intervention produced a significant increase in both job-search self-efficacy and inoculation against setbacks (both p < 0.001).Further structural equation modelling demonstrated that the intervention increased job-search preparedness ( ¼ 0.21, p < 0.001) which had statistically significant mediating effects on increasing re-employment ( ¼ 0.12, 0.10, p < 0.01, 0.05, respectively), and decreasing financial strain and depressive symptoms ( ¼ from À0.09 to À0.14, p < 0.01 to 0.001). Future studies should expand the conceptualization of job-search preparedness with assessment of job-search skills as an additional component. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. IntroductionA wide range of research shows that job loss and unemployment produce significant deterioration in mental health (see review by Fryer & Payne, 1986). The most common outcomes of unemployment are increases in anxiety, somatic symptoms, and symptoms of depression (Dooley, Catalano, & Wilson, 1994;Hamilton et al., 1990;Kessler et al., 1987;Warr et al., 1988). Moreover, there is some evidence that unemployment increases by over twofold the risk of onset of clinical depression (Dooley et al., 1994). In addition to the adverse effects of unemployment on mental health, there is research implicating unemployment as a contributor to other harmful outcomes (see review by Catalano, 1991). These outcomes include: suicide (Brenner, 1976), separation and divorce (Stack, 1981;Liem & Liem, 1988), child neglect and abuse (Steinberg, Catalano, & Dooley, 1981), alcohol abuse (Dooley, Catalano, & Hough, 1992;, violence in the workplace (Catalano, Dooley, Novaco, Wilson, & Hough, 1993), criminal behavior (Allan & Steffensmeier, 1989), and highway fatalities (Leigh & Waldon, 1991). Finally, there is some evidence, based primarily on self-report, that unemployment contributes to physical illness (Kessler et al., 1987). There are various intervention programs which aim at reducing the negative social and psychological impact of unemployment on displaced workers. Overwhelming evidence shows that re-employment reduces financial distress and depression symptoms and restores psycho-social functioning to pre-unemployment levels (Kessler, Turner, & House, 1989;Vinokur, Caplan, & Williams, 1987). Therefore, programs for unemployed workers should be aimed primarily at promoting and facil...