H-WORK has received funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, in the topic “Mental health in the workplace”. Other projects have been founded by the same programme, regarding the same topic:
EMPOWER is a multidisciplinary research and innovation effort aiming to developing, implementing, evaluating and disseminating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a modular eHealth intervention platform to promote health and well-being, reduce psychological distress, prevent common mental health problems and reduce their impact in the workplace. In collaboration with stakeholders, we will adapt existing effective interventions focused on different components (awareness and stigma, workplace conditions and psychosocial factors, stress, common mental health symptoms, early detection, comorbidity, lifestyle, and return to work) to created a combined online modular platform feasible in various workplace settings by culturally and contextually adapting it. The intervention will be implemented through a randomized controlled trial directed to employees and employers of small and medium sized enterprises and public agencies from three European countries (Spain, Finland and Poland). Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used in the evaluation of the individual health outcomes, cost-effectiveness (from a social, economical, employer and employees perspective), and implementation facilitators and barriers. Implementation strategies relevant to the uptake of the EMPOWER intervention will be identified, including a realistic appraisal of barriers to uptake as well as evidence-based solutions to these barriers. Through scaling-up pre-existing effective and cost-effective interventions, EMPOWER is aimed at addressing the overarching challenges from different perspectives, including individual level (e.g., addressing stigma, mental health, well-being and lifestyles, taking into account legal, cultural and gender issues) and organizational level. The main outcomes effort will help employees, employers and policymakers in decision processes of new legal and contractual framework at EU and national level covering the new economy landscape.
Over 23 million Europeans work in health care. Burnout, anxiety, sleep disorders, depression, and associated stigma are more common among health care workers, and exact a huge toll on individuals and families, particularly on women who are the majority of health care workers, and on society by erosion of productivity and safety of health services. Magnet4Europe transfers, modifies, scales up, and evaluates an evidence-based model of organizational redesign of clinical work environments to enhance workers’ wellbeing, retention, productivity, and patient outcomes. The Magnet model of workplace redesign has been adopted by 490 hospitals in 6 countries but has been slow to take root in Europe despite substantial interest as evidenced by letters from 84 European hospitals in 5 countries (Belgium, England, Germany, Ireland, Sweden) to participate in Magnet4Europe. Proof of concept of transferability of Magnet to differently organized and financed health care systems was shown in 2 pilots. Magnet4Europe modifies the Magnet model with stakeholder co-designed adaptations for Europe, one-to-one twinning with Magnet recognized hospitals, a learning collaborative including policymakers to promote success and sustainability, and a critical mass of institutions promoting innovation, attracting public interest, and fostering replication. Magnet4Europe uses a mixed method design to determine direct and indirect individual and collective health outcomes and cost effectiveness; it will improve mental health, reduce sickness absence, positively impact productivity and economic results by redesigned clinical work environments that promote mental health. The project will inform workplace mental health policies based on evidence with applicability beyond health care. Coordination is by experienced partners that implemented the FP7-RN4CAST project in 12 EU countries producing 70+ scientific papers, influencing EU and national policies to improve nurse retention and patient outcomes.
People-focused robots, also called collaborative robots (cobots), are designed to work with people (not to replace them) to help increase productivity in the manufacturing industry. These robots work with people in a shared workspace. The EU-funded MindBot project will investigate how cobot-based manufacturing workplaces are able to promote workers’ mental health. It will define an employment model for persons diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) working in the frame of manufacturing SMEs adopting cobots. The project will take a multidisciplinary approach, considering numerous facets that could impact mental health and intervening on technological, relational and organisational aspects of cobot-based work.
Depression and anxiety are the most prevalent mental health difficulties in the workplace in the EU, causing immense suffering and costing the global economy €1 trillion each year in lost productivity. Certain sectors, in particular construction, health and ICT, have an elevated risk of mental health difficulties, with those working in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) being particularly vulnerable. However, most SMEs have limited capacity to address mental health promotion and provide mental health interventions to staff. As SMEs comprise more than 90% of all EU businesses, there is a huge potential to influence population health.
MENTUPP aims to improve mental health and wellbeing in the workplace by developing, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive, multilevel intervention targeting both clinical (depressive, anxiety disorders) and non-clinical (stress, burnout, wellbeing, depressive symptoms) mental health issues, as well as combating the stigma of mental (ill-) health. The intervention will be tailored for SMEs in construction, healthcare and ICT and assessed in a multi-country Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial. The primary aim is to improve mental health in the workplace, with a secondary aim to reduce depression and suicidal behaviour.
MENTUPP will be conducted by an interdisciplinary consortium that includes world leading experts in mental health in occupational settings, depression, anxiety, stress, suicide prevention and stigma. It builds on a solid foundation of evidence, in particular leveraging partner European Alliance Against Depression’s four-level intervention to improve mental health and reduce suicide risk and partner Mates in Construction’s successful workplace intervention to reduce suicide in construction workers. Long-lasting impact is also a key priority of the project, with activities dedicated to the development of replication materials to support long-term use of the MENTUPP intervention in SMEs across Europe.