Work-related causes of mental health conditions and interventions for their improvement in workplaces.

Mental health problems and disorders are common among working people and are costly for the affected individuals, employers, and whole of society. This discussion paper provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on the relationship between work and mental health to inform research, policy, and practice. We synthesise available evidence, examining both the role of working conditions in the development of mental disorders, and what can be done to protect and promote mental health in the workplace. We show that exposure to some working conditions is associated with an increased risk of the onset of depressive disorders, the most studied mental disorders. The causality of the association, however, is still debated. Causal inference should be supported by more research with stronger linkage to theory, better exposure assessment, better understanding of biopsychosocial mechanisms, use of innovative analytical methods, a life-course perspective, and better understanding of the role of context, including the role of societal structures in the development of mental disorders. There is growing evidence for the effectiveness of interventions to protect and promote mental health and wellbeing in the workplace; however, there is a disproportionate focus on interventions directed towards individual workers and illnesses, compared with interventions for improving working conditions and enhancing mental health. Moreover, research on work and mental health is mainly done in high-income countries, and often does not address workers in lower socioeconomic positions. Flexible and innovative approaches tailored to local conditions are needed in implementation research on workplace mental health to complement experimental studies. Improvements in translating workplace mental health research to policy and practice, such as through workplace-oriented concrete guidance for interventions, and by national policies and programmes focusing on the people most in need, could capitalise on the growing interest in workplace mental health, possibly yielding important mental health gains in working populations.

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Declaration of interests RR, BA, BAG, and EA were supported by a grant from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under agreement 848137. The EU Commission takes no responsibility for any use made of the information set out in this paper. RR and IEHM were supported by a grant from the Danish Working Environment Research Fund (10–2019–03). NK was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (grant JP20KK0215), and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (grant JP21de0107005h0001). ADL was supported by grants from the Australian Medical Research Futures Fund (MRF1199972), and the National Health & Medical Research Council (grant GNT1134499). None of the funding organisations had any influence on the contents and publication of this paper.