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The disruption, trauma, and stressors brought by COVID-19 have increased recognition and normalization of workforce mental health needs. Objective: Given the importance of mental health and well-being assessments to employers' efforts to optimize employee health and well-being, this paper reviews mental health assessments that have utility in the workplace. Data Source: A review of publicly available mental health and well-being assessments was conducted with a primary focus on burnout, general mental health and well-being, loneliness, psychological safety, resilience, and stress. Inclusion Criteria: Assessments had to be validated for adult populations; available in English as a stand-alone tool; have utility in an employer setting; and not have a primary purpose of diagnosing a mental health condition. Data Extraction: All assessments were reviewed by a minimum of two expert reviewers to document number of questions, subscales, fee structure, international use, translations available, scoring/reporting, respondent (ie, employee or organization), and the target of the assessment (ie, mental health domain and organizational or individual level assessments. Data Synthesis & Results: Sixty-six assessments across the six focus areas met inclusion criteria, enabling employers to select assessments that meet their self-identified measurement needs. Conclusion: This review provides employers with resources that can help them understand their workforce's mental health and well-being status across multiple domains, which can serve as a needs assessment, facilitate strategic planning of mental health and well-being initiatives, and optimize evaluation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Institute for Health Promotion (IIHP) was established in 1996 at the American University in Washington DC. An interdisciplinary network between specialists from various fields was created (physicians, managers, psychologists, experts in physical education, etc.) and also between academic, governmental and non-governmental organizations. Strategies and initiatives aimed at education, training, expertise and research, are concerning with priority health promotion at the work place. Among the IIHP programs, the training of the staff involved in sports management is included. Thus, the German Association for Health Related Sports, affiliated at IIHP, organized in 2009 several 9-days workshops. Other IIHP organized workshops will be held in December 2010 in India and in 2011 in Germany and China. IIHP initiatives will also be beneficial for the future students: a European summer school is planned in the coming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic disease has become a global phenomenon affecting developing and developed countries alike. According to the WHO (2008), non-communicable diseases cause 38 million deaths annually (70% of all global deaths when adding injuries), which is estimated to increase. In India, chronic diseases account for 53% of all deaths (2005) which will further increase by 18% by 2015. Deaths from diabetes will increase by 35%. The economic impact is massive: India is projected to lose $237 billion in national income due to chronic disease. The WHO has identified four related risk factors to address: tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol. This paper will highlight the current global efforts to promote physical activity with a focus on the workplace. The workplace has been identified as a key setting to tackle the chronic disease challenge and accordingly workplace health promotion is experiencing significant growth. While approaches differ from country to country business drivers and targeted health issues are quite similar across the globe according to the most recent Global Survey on Health Promotion and Workplace Wellness Strategies. For example, employers worldwide use physical activity as a means to improve productivity and reduce healthcare costs. Several global initiatives in workplace health promotion have been launched, for example, the World Economic Forum Working Towards Wellness Initiative and the International Association for Worksite Health Promotion. Physical activity plays a key role in these initiatives due to the enormous potential to make lifestyle challenges and reduce chronic disease. The chronic disease challenge remains daunting and will intensify in emerging countries, like China and India. Therefore, additional resources need to be invested and initiatives strengthened on a local, regional and global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past decade, employee disease management (DM) programs have evolved and expanded in response to the continued economic burden of chronic diseases and other health conditions on companies in the US and globally. As they have developed, these programs have increasingly become integrated with other health management initiatives, in attempts to create a more effective model for achieving the desired health, economic, and quality-of-life outcomes. Through this integrated DM model, the various employee health management stakeholders (insurers, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, health promotion program providers, employers, and employees) are brought together in a comprehensive, coordinated approach to managing employee health risk, disease prevention, medical care and patient adherence and compliance, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes. To be effective, the model should include an integrated continuum of care via DM, condition management, and health promotion components. In addition, multinational companies should expand the scope of the model to include global health management strategies for employee DM in other countries, to address and manage the chronic diseases and conditions unique to those regions. Examples of recent integrated DM initiatives are presented in this article using case studies of local, national, and international companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]