Strengthening supervisor support for employees with common mental health problems: developing a workplace...

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Psychology
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Common mental health problems (CMHP) are increasing, leading to negative work outcomes like absenteeism and reduced performance.
• Organizational interventions show promise, but supervisor roles in supporting employees with CMHP require further strengthening.
• This study focuses on a preventative, organizational-level intervention to promote employees with CMHP staying at work through enhanced supervisor support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a workplace intervention to strengthen supervisor support for employees experiencing common mental health problems (CMHP).
• To promote a 'stay at work' approach for employees with CMHP by enhancing supervisor capacity.
• To contribute to organizational interventions by focusing on the crucial role of supervisors.

Main Methods:

• The Intervention Mapping (IM) approach was utilized, involving stakeholders like employees with CMHP, supervisors, and occupational health professionals.
• The Integrated Model of Behaviour Prediction for employers guided the intervention development.
• Thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups informed the intervention design across all six IM steps.

Main Results:

• A comprehensive needs assessment led to the creation of an online guideline, the Stay At Work (SAW) Supervisor Guideline.
• The guideline offers five step-wise themes for supporting employees with CMHP, focusing on changeable actions like signaling problems, stimulating autonomy, and exploring accommodations.
• Stakeholders identified the need for coaching sessions by occupational health professionals, incorporating practical, evidence-based strategies.

Conclusions:

• The SAW-Supervisor Guideline intervention addresses supervisors' needs for support in managing employees with mental health issues via a preventative, behavior-oriented approach.
• Intervention Mapping provided a systematic process for developing a novel intervention by identifying, structuring, and prioritizing supervisor support factors.
• Active stakeholder involvement ensured the intervention was well-received, and the theoretical framework effectively bridges research and practice for supportive supervisor behaviors.