Accepted for/Published in: Interactive Journal of Medical Research
Date Submitted: Oct 20, 2024
Date Accepted: Oct 31, 2025
A proposed taxonomy to holistically classify employee mental health programs: qualitative taxonomy development study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Given the growing awareness for and relevance of employee mental health, the number and diversity of employee mental health programs (EMHPs) has rapidly increased. This trend is mainly driven by digital technology with new digital EMHPs being constantly developed, resulting in a non-transparent EMHP landscape. While some taxonomies on specific aspects of mental health programs exist, an extensive taxonomy on EMHPs as a common standard is lacking. Such a taxonomy would benefit researchers and practitioners by providing a common standard in the form of a systematic structure to categorize EMHPs.
Objective:
The aim of this work was to develop and evaluate a comprehensive taxonomy to holistically classify EMHPs.
Methods:
A thorough taxonomy development process with four iterations was applied. The first two iterations were conducted as scoping reviews and aimed at identifying relevant dimensions and characteristics of EMHPs. The last two iterations comprised of semi-structured qualitative interviews. The third iteration aimed at identifying further dimensions and characteristics of EMHPs to develop the initial version of the taxonomy. During the fourth iteration, 17 international experts were interviewed to refine and confirm the initial version of the taxonomy. The final taxonomy was evaluated to three real-world EMHPs through a focus group with five experts.
Results:
The taxonomy development process resulted in a comprehensive taxonomy with two meta-dimensions, 21 dimensions and 69 characteristics that provides a standardized framework to classify and analyze (digital) EMHPs.
Conclusions:
The final taxonomy can serve as a new standard to classify EMHPs and thereby benefit researchers as well as practitioners. The taxonomy enhances transparency in EMHP research while it enables future research on (digital) EMHP archetypes. In practice, the taxonomy can inspire developers and designers in EMHP development and inform employers in decision-making.
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