Prevention of Common Mental Disorders in Employees. Perspectives on Collaboration from Three Health Care Professions

Abstract

Collaboration among occupational health physicians, primary care physicians and psychotherapists in the prevention and treatment of common mental disorders in employees has been scarcely researched. To identify potential for improvement, these professions were surveyed in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Four hundred and fifty occupational health physicians, 1000 primary care physicians and 700 resident medical and psychological psychotherapists received a standardized questionnaire about their experiences, attitudes and wishes regarding activities for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of common mental disorders in employees. The response rate of the questionnaire was 30% (n = 133) among occupational health physicians, 14% (n = 136) among primary care physicians and 27% (n = 186) among psychotherapists. Forty percent of primary care physicians and 33% of psychotherapists had never had contact with an occupational health physician. Psychotherapists indicated more frequent contact with primary care physicians than vice versa (73% and 49%, respectively). Better cooperation and profession-specific training on mental disorders and better knowledge about work-related stress were endorsed. For potentially involved stakeholders, the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for better prevention and care of employees with common mental disorders is very high. Nevertheless, there is only little collaboration in practice. To establish quality-assured cooperation structures in practice, participants need applicable frameworks on an organizational and legal level.

Wie bewerten Nutzer das neue Versorgungsmodell „Die Psychosomatische Sprechstunde im Betrieb“?

“…Obwohl der Arbeitsplatzbezug in der Sozialanamnese bei jedem psychosomatisch-psychiatrisch-psychotherapeutischen Erstkontakt Eingang finden könnte, wird dies von Therapeuten und Ärzten meist wenig ausreichend thematisiert [42]. Oft fehlt der direkte Kontakt zu innerbetrieblichen Akteuren [18] und/oder detailliertes Wissen zu Inhalten und Abläufen am jeweiligen Arbeitsplatz [42,43]. Aus diesem Grund kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass die größere Zufriedenheit der Nutzer im Betrieb der maßgeschneiderten Dienstleistungsqualität geschuldet ist.…”

“…Der Arbeitsplatz gewinnt in der Früherkennung und Frühbehandlung an Bedeutung [15][16][17][18], da Kennzeichen seelischer Belastungen und unspezifische chronische Stressbeschwerden hier in einem frühen Stadium auffällig werden können [19].…”

Return to Work after Common Mental Disorders: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Expectations of the Involved Stakeholders

“…Additionally, the representative for employees with disabilities or members from private social networks (e.g., family members, friends) can be included if the returnee wishes this support [ 8 ]. Previous research has suggested though that the cooperation of these different professions and stakeholders to achieve a successful RTW has been suboptimal so far [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. While collaboration among different stakeholders is considered important by members of the different professions themselves, it is rarely effectively implemented in practice and needs to be extended [ 11 ].…”

Früherkennung und Behandlung von psychischen und psychosomatischen Erkrankungen im Betrieb

“…Untersuchungen hinsichtlich des Behandlungsverlaufes legen nahe, dass die Früherkennung und somit auch die frühe Behandlung von psychischen Erkrankungen positive Auswirkungen auf die Prognose hat [6][7][8]. Gerade im täglichen Arbeitsumfeld können Belastungssymptome und Stressreaktionen in einem frühen Stadium auffällig werden [9], was den Arbeitsplatz für die Früherkennung daher immer wichtiger macht [10][11][12][13].…”