How the study works

The study is a program of work packages; each collaborating partner leads one work package. The University of York is one of the collaborating partners. Professor Christina van der Feltz-Cornelis, professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at HYMS and the Department of Health Sciences, is co-applicant and leads the first work package of the project. With her team in the Mental Health and Addiction Group (MHARG), the European partners, and key stakeholders, she will devise the intervention that will address workplace mental health. She will address several factors, such as stigma, workplace conditions and psychosocial factors, stress, common mental health symptoms, and comorbidity. Raising awareness, early detection, lifestyle, and return to work after sickness absence, will all be combined in an online modular platform feasible in various workplace settings.

Along with the University of York team, EMPOWER partners from three European countries (Spain, Finland, Poland) will implement this intervention through a randomised controlled trial amongst employees and employers of small and medium-sized enterprises and public agencies. The Dutch partner will analyse cost-effectiveness of the intervention. After that, all partners will engage in disseminating the results.