Employees’ preferences on organisational aspects of psychotherapeutic consultation at work by occupational area, company size, requirement levels and supervisor function – a cross-sectional study in Germany

Abstract

Background Common mental disorders affect a significant proportion of the population worldwide at any given time. Psychotherapeutic consultation at work offers employees with mental distress short-term and low-threshold access to psychotherapeutic treatment. However, this offer is only accepted by one to two percent of the employees to whom it is offered. Taking into account employees ‘ preferences regarding organisational aspects might increase the use of psychotherapeutic consultation at work. This study therefore aimed to identify preferences on organisational aspects of psychotherapeutic consultation at work among employees of diverse occupational areas, company sizes, supervisor functions and job requirement levels. Methods A total of 755 employees were recruited via advertisements on social media (Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn). Participants rated on a 5-point Likert scale their agreement to different implementation options of psychotherapeutic consultation at work: type (in-person/video/telephone), location (on/outside company premises), time (within/outside working hours), scope (diagnostic/diagnostic + treatment) and purpose (private/occupational). Additionally, the maximum accepted distance to the location of consultation was assessed. Various analyses of variances (ANOVA) were conducted to determine differences in agreement to implementation options within each organisational aspect and to analyse differences between occupational areas, company sizes, requirement levels and between employees with and without supervisor function. Results Participants indicated a preference for in-person psychotherapeutic consultation that takes places outside company premises and outside working hours. Furthermore, they preferred offers including diagnostic and treatment sessions compared to offers including diagnostic sessions only. Even though participants agreed that consultation should be offered for all purposes, agreement for occupational issues was stronger than for private issues. For some implementation options, the level of agreement varied according to occupational field, company size, supervisor function and level of requirement. However, these differences did not affect the key findings mentioned above. Conclusion Those findings give practical indications on the organisational design of psychotherapeutic consultation at work. The results suggest that in-person consultation outside company premises and working hours combining diagnostic and treatment sessions will be accepted by employees regardless of their occupational area, company size, supervisor function and requirement level.

Determinants of the intention to seek psychotherapeutic consultation at work - a cross- sectional study in Germany

“…This is supported by a previous study which found that the intention to seek PT-A was lower for private burden than for occupational burden [16]. Additionally, another previous publication with the same study sample as the present study found that employees of larger companies would be more likely to talk about private burden than employees of middle-sized companies [34]. One possible explanation was that greater anonymity might be guaranteed in larger companies [34].…”

“…Additionally, another previous publication with the same study sample as the present study found that employees of larger companies would be more likely to talk about private burden than employees of middle-sized companies [34]. One possible explanation was that greater anonymity might be guaranteed in larger companies [34]. Another possible explanation might be that participants may expect different consequences when talking about occupational burden compared to private burden during the consultation.…”

“…It is known from a previous study that the majority of those who sought PT-A have sought psychotherapeutic treatment for the rst time [12]. In the present study sample, about 60% had received a mental diagnosis and a large proportion of them had also received treatment for it [34]. It is known that past use of mental health treatment is associated with a higher likelihood of seeking treatment again [50].…”

“…One of the strengths of this study is that the perspective of different target groups are presented. Employees from various companies and occupational areas were included in the survey [34]. Furthermore, PT-A is intended to reach employees with mental illnesses as well as employees with subclinical symptoms and acute burden (e.g.…”

“…Informed consent was obtained by requiring participants to actively agree to the informed consent form by checking a box. A detailed description of the recruiting process is provided elsewhere [34].…”