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(1) Background: A new health care offer called 'psychotherapeutic consultation in the workplace' is an early and effective intervention for employees with common mental disorders. Although cost-effective, it lacks a broader roll-out. This might be attributable to undefined context, mechanisms of change, and a lack of communication; therefore, this study explores how the new model works and where problems occur. (2) Methods: Semi-structured interviews on motivation, expectations and experiences with 20 involved experts. Experts were members of the company health promotion team, service users, and cooperating mental health specialists. Analysis was conducted with ATLAS.ti. (3) Results: The conceptual framework comprises three main topics: (a) structured implementation concept; (b) persons involved, shaping the concept's processes; (c) and meaning and function of the offer within the given context. Concerning (c) we found three potential areas of conflict: (1) intra-corporate conflicts, (2) conflicts between company and employee, (3) and conflicts between the company health promotion and the health care system. Category (c) comprises the offer's core characteristics which were described as low-threshold and preventive. Furthermore, the offer was perceived as convenient in handling, confidential, and having immediate impact on a person's well-being. (4) Conclusions: Here we define structures, address the needs of the involved persons, and communicate foreseeable areas of conflict influences whether the implementation of the intervention succeeds.

Research indicates that managers' active support is essential for the successful implementation of mental health-related organizational interventions. However, there is currently little insight into what subjective beliefs and perceptions (=mental models) make leaders support such interventions. To our knowledge, this is the first qualitative systematic review of this specific topic, and it considers 17 qualitative studies of managers' perspective. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this review provides an overview of three action-guiding factors (attitudes, organizational norms and behavioral control) that can serve as starting points for engaging managers in the implementation of mental health-related measures and ensuring their success. Our results provide evidence that supportive organizational norms may particularly help to create a common sense of responsibility among managers and foster their perceived controllability with respect to changing working conditions. Our study thus contributes to a more differentiated understanding of managers' mental models of health-related organizational interventions.

Healthcare professionals' exposure to work-family conflict negatively affects the health and well-being of the whole family and organizational outcomes. Specified workplace interventions are lacking. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of a two-day group-treatment specifically designed for the needs of healthcare professionals with family responsibilities concerning participation, satisfaction with the intervention and family- and individual-related outcome variables. 24 mostly female (85.7%) participants of a community hospital in southern Germany attended the treatment. Data were collected at baseline (T0), directly after the treatment (T1) and two months later (T2). A two-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures showed a statistically significant time x group effect for self-efficacy ( F = 5.29, p = 0.011). Contrasts displayed substantial pre-post (T1-T0, T2-T0) increases of self-efficacy in the intervention group as compared with the control group. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney- U tests are in line with these findings. The results indicate that the group-treatment adapted to the needs of healthcare professionals has the potential to boost self-efficacy among healthcare professionals and that participants were predominantly satisfied. Perspectives for future research and practical implications are discussed in the light of the manifest lack of healthcare professionals.

Introduction: Epidemics lead to an increase in occupational stress and psychological strain among healthcare workers. However, the impact of a pandemic outbreak on healthcare systems is yet to be clearly defined. Therefore, this work aims to describe and analyze specific areas of workload among different groups of healthcare workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: A sample of N = 8088 persons working in the German-speaking healthcare sector participated in the VOICE/egePan online survey, which addressed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during the second quarter of 2020. We used 15 self-constructed items, based on the work of Matsuishi et al. (2012), to identify potential COVID-19-specific topics., Results: N = 7542 records of healthcare workers were analyzed. Of these, 60.80% reported, retrospectively, an increase in stress since the outbreak of the pandemic. Problem areas tended to be indicated more frequently by the women surveyed than by the men. Nurses, paramedics and medical technicians reported the highest fear of infecting others while physicians reported the highest fear of physical or mental exhaustion. With respect to age, older respondents indicated less fear and felt more protected. Men and people living alone were more likely to use dysfunctional coping strategies. Migrants reported a higher fear of becoming infected or infecting others as well as they reported about increased levels of smoking., Discussion: Retrospectively, the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in stress among healthcare workers. Problem areas have different focuses with regard to different living situations, environmental conditions and professions. In order to lay the best basis for healthy and efficient work, it seems necessary to take measures especially tailored to the needs of different groups of healthcare workers.

Working conditions in hospitals are characterized by occupational stressors, which lead to potentially harmful psychosocial stress reactions for medical and nursing staff. Representative surveys showed that almost every second hospital physician or nurse is affected by burnout and that there is a strong association between leadership behavior and employee health. Workplace health promotion programs can only be successful and sustainable if managers support them. However, it is still unclear whether hospital managers are aware of the working conditions and perceive them as an influence on the health of their employees. Therefore, the aim of this qualitative study was to explore the hospital medical and nursing managers' perspective on the mental stress of their employees. Semi-standardized interviews with 37 chief physicians (CP), senior physicians (SP) and senior nurses (SN) in total were carried out in one German hospital. The interviews were content-analyzed based on the guideline for the mental risk assessment of the 'Gemeinsame Deutsche Arbeitsschutzstrategie' (GDA). Most reported work characteristics related to work organization, work task, and social factors. Staff shortage could be identified as an underlying stressor for several other burdens. Social support by managers and among colleagues was mentioned as main resource. The findings indicate that managers strive to reduce the burden on their staff, especially through their personal support. Nevertheless, it seemed that managers need additional resources to counteract stressors.

The rising burden of common mental disorders (CMDs) in employees requires strategies for prevention. No systematic data exist about how those involved perceive their roles, responsibilities, and interactions with other professional groups. Therefore, we performed a multi-professional standardized survey with health professionals in Germany. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 133 occupational health physicians (OHPs), 136 primary care physicians (PCPs), 186 psychotherapists (PTs), and 172 human resource managers (HRMs). Inter alia, they were asked which health professionals working in the company health service and in the outpatient care or in the sector of statutory insurance agents should play a key role in the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of CMDs in employees. The McNemar test was used in order to compare the attributed roles among the professionals involved. With regard to CMDs, all the professional groups involved in this study declared OHPs as the most relevant pillar in the field of prevention. In primary prevention, HRMs regarded themselves, OHPs, and health insurance agents as equally relevant in terms of prevention. PTs indicated an important role for employee representatives in this field. In secondary prevention, PCPs were regarded as important as OHPs. HRMs indicated themselves as equally important as OHPs and PCPs. In tertiary prevention, only OHPs identified themselves as main protagonists. The other groups marked a variety of several professions. There is a common acceptance from the parties involved that might help the first steps be taken toward overcoming barriers, e.g., by developing a common framework for quality-assured intersectional cooperation in the field of CMD prevention in employees.

Objectives : This study analyses the perceived relevance of stress-dimensions in work-settings from the differential views of Human Resource Managers (HRM), Occupational Physicians (OP), Primary Care Physicians (PCP) and Psychotherapists (PT) in Germany. Methods : Cross-sectional study design, using a self-report questionnaire. Descriptive measures and explorative bivariate methods were applied for group-comparisons. Results are presented as rankings of perceived importance and as polarity profiles of contrasting views. Results: N = 627 participants completed the questionnaires (HRM: n = 172; OP: n = 133; PCP: n = 136; PT: n = 186). The stress dimensions with the highest mean ratings across all four professions were: 'social relationships in the work place' ( M = 3.55, SD = 0.62) and 'superiors´ leadership style' ( M = 3.54, SD = 0.64). Mean ratings of perceived relevance of stress dimensions differed most between HRM and the three medical professions. Conclusions : The perceived importance of work-related stress-dimensions seems to be higher in the medical disciplines (OP, PCP, PT) than in the group from the management sector (HRM). However, no fundamental disagreement on the role of work-related stress-dimensions seems to hinder e.g., intensified efforts of cooperation across sectors in tackling the "stress-pandemic" and improving the (mental) health of employees., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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., Competing Interests: Martina Michaelis, Rahna Lange, Stephan Zipfel, Marc N. Jarczok, Elisabeth M. Balint and Florian Junne declare no conflict of interests. Harald Gündel and Eva Rothermund gave talks about ‘mental health and work’ to different companies, which they were partly paid for. Eva Rothermund, Harald Gündel und Monika A. Rieger received funding for the study ‘Psychosomatic consultation in the workplace—a new model of care at the interface of company-supported mental health care and consultation-liaison psychosomatics’ in the framework of the Young Scientists’ Program run by the German network ‘Health Services Research Baden-Württemberg’ of the Ministry for Science, Research and Arts in collaboration with the Ministry for Work and Social Affairs, Family, Women, and Senior Citizens, Baden-Württemberg. In addition, this study was funded by the company Airbus. Monika~A. Rieger received funding for another study about ‘Psychosomatic consultation in the workplace’ from the Ministry for Work and Social Affairs, Family, Women, and Senior Citizens, Baden-Württemberg. The founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.

The reduction of stress reactivity resulting from stress management interventions prevents disorders and improves mental health, however, its long-term sustainability has been little examined. The objective of this study was, therefore, to determine the effectiveness of a stress management intervention, designed to improve stress reactivity, for mental health and sleep problems seven years later, using longitudinal data from 101 male industrial workers. Linear regressions estimated the adjusted effects of the changes in stress reactivity in general as well as in its six subdimensions (work overload, social conflict, social stress, failure at work, and anticipatory and prolonged reactivity) on depression, anxiety, and sleep problems seven years later. The improvement of the prolonged reactivity had positive effects on depression, anxiety, and sleep problems (unstandardized regression coefficients [ Bs ] ≥ 0.35, all p -values ≤ 0.01). Depression and sleep problems were further improved by a reduction of the reactivity to social conflicts ( Bs ≥ 0.29, p -values < 0.05), and an improvement in the overall reactivity score positively influenced sleep problems ( B = 0.07, p = 0.017). In conclusion, the improvement of stress reactivity resulting from a work stress intervention was effective and generally long-lasting in preventing mental health and sleep problems. The reduction of the prolonged reactivity seems of particular importance and efficient in inhibiting negative stress manifestations., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

In previous studies, it was found that patients treated at a psychosomatic outpatient clinic (PSOC) for common mental disorders showed more severe symptoms than those who used a psychotherapeutic consultation service at the workplace (PSIW). This study examines whether the higher symptom severity of the PSOC patients in comparison to their PSIW counterparts is also related to higher levels of occupational stress as measured by the demand-control-support model (DCS). N = 253 participants (PSIW n = 100; PSOC n = 153) provided self-reported data on demands, decision latitude, social support, and health before consultation. The association between mental health care setting, symptom level and demands, decision latitude, and social support was assessed by means of a path model. Results of the path model indicated that the higher level of depression in PSOC patients was related to higher levels of demands and lower levels of social support. Demands and social support were found to be indirectly associated with treatment setting. No interaction effect between demands, decision latitude, social support, and depression was found. Results of this study reveal that the working conditions influenced the pathway to care process via symptom severity., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Eva Rothermund is senior physician and Harald Gündel and Michael Hölzer each director of a clinic that offers the service of PSIW to interested organisations and companies. Amira Barrech, Reinhold Kilian, Edit Rottler, Lucia Jerg-Bretzke, Monika Annemarie Rieger and Marc Nicolas Jarczok declare no conflict of interest. The founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.

Psychosocial working conditions attract more and more attention when it comes to mental health in the workplace. Trying to support managers to deal with their own as well as their employees' psychological risk factors, we conducted a specific manager training. Within this investigation, we wanted to learn about the training's effects and acceptance. A single-day manager training was provided in a large industrial company in Germany. The participants were asked to fill out questionnaires regarding their own physical and mental health condition as well as their working situation. Questionnaires were distributed at baseline, 3-month, and 12-month follow-up. At this point of time the investigation is still ongoing. The current article focuses on short-term preliminary effects. Analyses only included participants that already completed baseline and three months follow-up. Preliminary results from three-month follow-up survey ( n = 33, nmale = 30, Mage = 47.5) indicated positive changes in the manager's mental health condition measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression (PHQ-9: Mt1 = 3.82, Mt2 = 3.15). Training managers about common mental disorders and risk factors at the workplace within a single-day workshop seems to promote positive effects on their own mental health. Especially working with the managers on their own early stress symptoms might have been an important element., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.