JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Mental health issues represent a prevalent challenge for employees and their employers, causing individual, societal, and economic damage. Different employee mental health programs (EMHPs) can support employees in preventing and treating mental health issues. However, the impact of such EMHPs depends largely on the usage behavior of employees.

Objective:

To gain further insights on the attitude and usage behavior of employees, this study investigates (1) employees’ preference and intention to use EMPHs, (2) predicting factors for usage, and (3) main facilitators as well as barriers affecting usage.

Methods:

An exploratory sequential mixed methods approach was applied including a scoping review, qualitative interviews, and a quantitative online survey. The semi-structured qualitative interviews with 15 employees were conducted to gain insights on EMHPs from the employee perspective and inform the creation of the online questionnaire. The quantitative online survey was conducted to collect representative primary data on employees’ perspective on different EMHPs using 7-point Likert scales. The collected quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics incl. repeated measures ANOVAs and Chi-square tests.

Results:

The final sample of the online survey consisted of 1,134 participants and was representative across several sociodemographic characteristics. Analysis of the sample revealed that employees prefer digital (58.7%) and self-intervention (52.2%) EMHPs when being able to choose and are most likely to use EMHPs focused on prevention (M=4.89, SD=1.61). Intention to use EMHPs is predicted by age (MYoung=4.59, MOld=4.19, P<.001, d=0.32), education (MAcademic degree=4.68, MNo academic degree=4.26, P<.001, d=0.32), and mostly by company culture (MPositive company culture=4.61, MNegative company culture=3.99, P<.001, d=0.49). Cost coverage (30.4%) and ease of use (29.7%) are critical facilitators for usage.

Conclusions:

Employers can have a positive contribution to employee mental health by starting to offer EMHPs, preferably digital self-intervention programs for prevention, creating and maintaining the right work environment and culture, and ensuring cost coverage for the EMHP.