Employers' Health Partners with American Psychiatric Foundation for New Depression Education Program

On October 10, the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health, a program of the American Psychiatric Foundation, and Employers Health, an Ohio-based employer coalition, announced a collaboration to develop a new educational program in the workplace to help decrease stigma associated with depression, which is a leading cause of lost productivity. The depression education program is designed to help motivate employees and their families to seek help when needed, and to provide employers with appropriate support tools and resources. The announcement comes on the 20th anniversary of World Mental Health Day, which seeks to raise public awareness about mental health issues worldwide and is, this year, focused on depression as a global crisis.

With more than six percent of adults in any one year being diagnosed with depression -- approximately 14.8 million Americans -- and at an annual cost to employers of $44 billion in lost productivity alone, there is a significant need for people with depression in the workforce to understand their condition and receive quality care. Productivity losses with mood disorders like depression are associated with greater levels of absenteeism and presenteeism in the workplace compared with other chronic conditions, such as diabetes, arthritis and hypertension. In fact, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, workers with depression report 5.6 hours per week on average more total health-related lost productivity time than those without depression.

According to a survey of more than 3,000 employees and their dependents, conducted by the National Business Group on Health and The Futures Company, consumers would like more assistance with improving their health and getting the most from their company-provided health and wellness plans. Research illustrates that having mental health coverage does not necessarily translate into utilization of those benefits. To help fill that gap, the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health with its expertise in workplace mental health and Employers Health with its depth of experience with employer outreach have joined forces to collaborate in the development and execution of this educational initiative. One main goal of the program will be to address the stigma associated with mental health issues, which is a barrier to early intervention and access to care.

The depression worksite education program under development will include a human resource toolkit with directions for implementation and rollout, in addition to employee materials to encourage identification of the warning signs of depression.