To Disclose or Not to Disclose: A Multi-stakeholder Focus Group Study on Mental Health Issues in the Work Environment

Brouwers, Evelien P. M.; Joosen, Margot C. W.; Zelst, Catherine van; Weeghel, Jaap van

doi:10.1007/s10926-019-09848-z

Cited by 91 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Adding focus groups with workers with psychological disorders might have revealed other barriers or support needs, such as dealing with stigmatization. Although disclosure was an important aspect among the participants of this study, research conducted on the various barriers for workers with psychological disorders, shows that stigmatization and discrimination after disclosure is a particular problem for this group of workers [41][42][43]. A study by Brouwers et al also shows the different factors that influence the outcome of disclosure, e.g.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 64%

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Facilitators, barriers and support needs for staying at work with a chronic condition: a focus group study

et al. 2020

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Background: Working with a chronic condition can be challenging. Providing support to workers with a chronic condition can help them to stay at work and prevent work-related problems. Workers with a chronic condition who successfully stay at work can provide valuable input for the development of effective supportive interventions to prevent exit from work and facilitate sustainable employment. The aim of this study is to explore the lived experiences of workers with a chronic condition and identify existing barriers, facilitators and possible support needs for staying at work. Methods: Four focus groups were conducted between August and December 2017 with workers with one or more chronic conditions (n = 30). Participants included employees and (partially) self-employed workers. All focus group data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. Results: Disclosure and expressing one's needs were considered important personal facilitators for staying at work. Environmental facilitators included receiving practical information on working with a chronic condition and social and employer support. Environmental barriers were identified in the work environment, the health care system and service provision, e.g., manager and co-worker's lack of knowledge about working with a chronic condition, a lack of focus on work in the course of treatment for a chronic condition, dissatisfaction with occupational physician support, and the absence of support for self-employed workers. Provided support should be available to all workers, and be proactive and tailored to the workers' specific support needs. Conclusions: A variety of facilitators, barriers and support needs were identified in various domains. By addressing environmental barriers (e.g., by integrating work in the course of treatment and creating supportive work environments), sustainable employment by workers with a chronic condition can be promoted.

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Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…A study by Brouwers et al also shows the different factors that influence the outcome of disclosure, e.g. workplace, financial and employee factors [43]. Second, none of the participants worked in a profession requiring heavy physical labor.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitators, barriers and support needs for staying at work with a chronic condition: a focus group study

et al. 2020

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“…Meanwhile, we did not find any industrial workers who reported using medical services in the factory for mental care. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that the workers might be afraid of discrimination at work or even to be fired if they disclosed their mental status, which has been shown in prior literature [40][41][42]. Another reason is that mental health-related physicians, infrastructure, or equipment in the on-site medical offices was insufficient to consult, diagnose, or treat depression [34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health Service Use of Industrial Workers: Evidence from Vietnam

Ngoc¹,

Nguyen²,

Nguyen³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Background: Depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation substantially reduce industrial workers' productivity and performance. This study was performed to examine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation and identify associated factors among industrial workers in different provinces of Vietnam. Materials and Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study in industrial zones of four provinces of Vietnam. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was employed to screen depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine factors related to depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Results: Of 1200 industrial workers, 30.5% and 33.6% industrial workers had positive depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in the last two weeks, respectively. There were 38.3% ever using mental health services in the last 12 months. High school education (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.44-0.95); living in dormitory (OR = 3.07, 95% CI = 1.51-6.24), living with siblings (OR = 2.98; 95% CI = 1.32-6.75), Int.having two children or more (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.03-2.03), high years of experience (OR = 0.94; 95% CI = 0.89-0.98), suffering from burnout, alcohol use disorder (OR = 2.38; 95% CI = 1.72-3.28), and smoking status (OR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.23-0.61) were associated with positive depressive symptoms. Living with children, working in mechanical/metallurgy/electronics factories, completely exhausted and often thinking of quitting, and alcohol use disorder were positively related to suicidal ideation. Conclusions: This study found a high prevalence of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among industrial workers in Vietnam. Regular screening and detecting high-risk groups, along with interventions to reduce health risk behaviors, burnout and on-site medical service quality improvement, are recommended to alleviate the burden of depression in industrial workers.

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“…There are also other important workplace stakeholders whose stigmatizing attitudes can negatively affect the employment opportunities of people with MI/MHI. For instance, a recent Dutch multi-stakeholder focus group study on the disclosure of MI/MHI in the work environment suggested that human resource staff in particular were in favor of job applicants' disclosure because it allowed them to identify and discriminate people with MI/MHI and avoid financial risk, which they viewed it as a core responsibility of their jobs [28]. Although this was a qualitative study and no conclusions can be drawn regarding generalizability of the findings, the authors emphasize that this finding warrants further quantitative study.…”

Section: Social Stigma Definedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social stigma is an underestimated contributing factor to unemployment in people with mental illness or mental health issues: position paper and future directions

2020

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Background: As yet, little is known about the effects of mental health stigma on sustainable employment. This is surprising, as mental health stigma is common, and because people with severe and common mental disorders are 7 and 3 times more likely to be unemployed, respectively, than people with no disorders. As the global lifetime prevalence of mental disorders is 29%, the high unemployment rates of people with these health problems constitute an important and urgent public health inequality problem that needs to be addressed. Main text: The aim of this position paper is to illustrate the assumption that stigma contributes to the unemployment of people with mental illness and mental health issues with evidence from recent scientific studies on four problem areas, and to provide directions for future research. These four problem areas indicate that: (1) employers and line managers hold negative attitudes towards people with mental illness or mental health issues, which decreases the chances of people with these health problems being hired or supported; (2) both the disclosure and non-disclosure of mental illness or mental health issues can lead to job loss; (3) anticipated discrimination, selfstigma and the 'Why Try' effect can lead to insufficient motivation and effort to keep or find employment and can result in unemployment; and (4) stigma is a barrier to seeking healthcare, which can lead to untreated and worsened health conditions and subsequently to adverse occupational outcomes (e.g. sick leave, job loss). Conclusions: The paper concludes that stigma in the work context is a considerable and complex problem, and that there is an important knowledge gap especially regarding the long-term effects of stigma on unemployment. To prevent and decrease adverse occupational outcomes in people with mental illness or mental health issues there is an urgent need for high quality and longitudinal research on stigma related consequences for employment. In addition, more validated measures specifically for the employment setting, as well as destigmatizing intervention studies are needed.

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To Disclose or Not to Disclose: A Multi-stakeholder Focus Group Study on Mental Health Issues in the Work Environment

Cited by 91 publications

References 29 publications

Facilitators, barriers and support needs for staying at work with a chronic condition: a focus group study

Facilitators, barriers and support needs for staying at work with a chronic condition: a focus group study

Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health Service Use of Industrial Workers: Evidence from Vietnam

Social stigma is an underestimated contributing factor to unemployment in people with mental illness or mental health issues: position paper and future directions

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