Effectiveness of tailored digital health interventions for mental health at the workplace: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials
Open accessAbstract
Mental health problems in the workplace are common and have a considerable impact on employee wellbeing and productivity. Mental ill-health costs employers between £33 billion and £42 billion a year. According to a 2020 HSE report, roughly 2,440 per 100,000 workers in the UK were affected by work-related stress, depression, or anxiety, resulting in an estimated 17.9 million working days lost. We performed a systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the effect of tailored digital health interventions provided in the workplace aiming to improve mental health, presenteeism and absenteeism of employees. We searched several databases for RCTs published from 2000 onwards. Data were extracted into a standardised data extraction form. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Due to the heterogeneity of outcome measures, narrative synthesis was used to summarise the findings. Seven RCTs (eight publications) were included that evaluated tailored digital interventions versus waiting list control or usual care to improve physical and mental health outcomes and work productivity. The results are promising to the advantage of tailored digital interventions regarding presenteeism, sleep, stress levels, and physical symptoms related to somatisation; but less for addressing depression, anxiety, and absenteeism. Even though tailored digital interventions did not reduce anxiety and depression in the general working population, they significantly reduced depression and anxiety in employees with higher levels of psychological distress. Tailored digital interventions seem more effective in employees with higher levels of distress, presenteeism or absenteeism than in the general working population. There was high heterogeneity in outcome measures, especially for work productivity; this should be a focus of attention in future studies.
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Tailored and personalised interventions may benefit wellbeing outcomes, such as sleep, stress, and physical symptoms related to somatisation in adult samples.
“Research has also indicated that tailored and personalised interventions may also benefit wellbeing outcomes, such as sleep, stress, and physical symptoms related to somatisation in adult samples (Moe-Byrne et al., 2022), high lighting the importance of tailoring content.”
From ACT2COPE: A pilot randomised trial of a brief online acceptance and commitment therapy intervention for people living with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic (2023) · cites this paper as Moe-Byrne et al., 2022
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“Previous research has shown that digital interventions for employees experiencing psychological distress can be highly scalable and cost-effective [42-44] conferring positive impacts on well-being and productivity outcomes such as sleep, stress, and presenteeism [44].”
BackgroundPaleri, V., Valmaggia, L., Kaleva, I., Martland, R., & Riches, S. (2024) · Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science · doi:10.1007/s41347-024-00434-6 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“The existing literature has focussed on the impact of digital interventions on employees across all workplaces with minimal discourse on healthcare professionals in addition to exploring the feasibility and acceptability of digital interventions (Armaou et al., 2022; Moe-Byrne et al., 2022).”
Mess, F., Blaschke, S., Gebhard, D., & Friedrich, J. (2024) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1444521 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
The use of digital health technology to provide mental health services for employees in Japan
Eguchi, H., Kojimahara, N., Kanamori, S., Imamura, K., Tani, N., & Ebara, T. (2023) · Environmental and Occupational Health Practice · doi:10.1539/eohp.2023-0016-ct · Cited by 9 · see citing works
The Impact of Digital Climate on Employee Wellbeing in the Digital Transformation Era
Avtalion, Z., Aviv, I., Hadar, I., Luria, G., & Bar-Gil, O. (2025) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2025.3566211 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“For example, personalized digital health interventions have been shown to reduce stress and improve mental health among employees, particularly those experiencing high levels of psychological distress [7].”
Forman‐Hoffman, V. L., Flom, M., Montgomery, R. M., & Robinson, A. H. (2024) · Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine · doi:10.1097/jom.0000000000003038 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“19,20 One recent systematic review conducted in 2022 21 focused on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that collectively studied tailored digitalhealthinterventionsingeneraltargetingabsenteeism,presenteeism,…”
BackgroundArulsamy, K., Effendy, E., Mardhiyah, S. A., Amin, M. M., Husada, M. S., Camellia, V., Stona, A.-C., & Finkelstein, E. A. (2025) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1667726 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Precision prevention in worksite health–A scoping review on research trends and gaps
Mess, F., Blaschke, S., Schick, T. S., & Friedrich, J. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0304951 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Maistrello, G., Phillips, W., Lee, D., & Romanelli, R. J. (2024) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076241277180 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“12,23,24 Workers ’ well-being is signi fi cantly and positively related to productivity, indicating that emotional well-being is a crucial factor for organizational performance.”
BackgroundPikkarainen, M. A., Iivari, M., Gomes, J. F., Kaartinen, J., Xu, Y., He, H. G., & Gazerani, P. (2024) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076241271807 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“8,9 In the case of mental health, tailored digital interventions have proved to have promising results in terms of presenteeism, stress levels, and sleep.”
BackgroundWallace-Boyd, K., Boggiss, A. L., Ellett, S., Booth, R., Slykerman, R., & Serlachius, A. S. (2023) · Cogent Psychology · doi:10.1080/23311908.2023.2208916 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Research has also indicated that tailored and personalised interventions may also benefit wellbeing outcomes, such as sleep, stress, and physical symptoms related to somatisation in adult samples (Moe-Byrne et al., 2022), high-lighting the importance of tailoring content.”
BackgroundThe Potentials of Digital Workplace Health Promotion
Nöhammer, E., & Drexel, M. (2024) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph21070902 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Lampinen, V. S., Kämper, E., Balla, V. R., Katajavuori, N., & Asikainen, H. (2026) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2026.100909 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Tani, N., Takao, Y., Noro, S., Fujihara, H., Eguchi, H., Sakai, K., & Ebara, T. (2024) · Journal of Occupational Health · doi:10.1093/joccuh/uiae047 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“13 14-16 In addition, reports suggest that brief immersive virtual reality medita-tions, breathing exercises, and other forms of relaxation in the workplace may reduce stress.”
BackgroundASHER, I. B., Ritholz, M. D., Horwitz, D. L., Manejwala, O., Behar, E., & Fundoiano-Hershcovitz, . (2024) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/50506 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“In the past decade, the delivery of digital interventions has become increasingly popular; these interventions target common mental health illnesses [15] within the workplace due to their easy implementation [16].”
BackgroundDigital Occupational Health: Opportunities and Challenges for the Workplace
Sallinen, M. (2024) · Journal of UOEH · doi:10.7888/juoeh.46.87 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Sasaki, N., Ogawa, S., Sawada, U., Shimazu, T., Powell, B. J., Takeno, H., Tsutsumi, A., & Imamura, K. (2024) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2024.100754 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Gesundheit, Produktivität und Digitale Gesundheitsförderung in der New Work
Gellner, C., Cheliadzinskaya, A., & Michael Fellmann, M. A. (2025) · HMD Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik · doi:10.1365/s40702-025-01230-3 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Xu, L., Feng, B., & ShengLi, M. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1794504 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Lee, G., & Kim, C. (2025) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1593957 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Lawrence‐Sidebottom, D., Huffman, L. G., Beam, A. B., Guerra, R., Parikh, A., Roots, M., & Huberty, J. (2023) · doi:10.2196/preprints.53782 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Bolus, M., Chen, J., Regala, S., Kapoor, A., Barbeito, A., Raghunathan, K., Stafford, R. S., Mariano, E. R., & Mudumbai, S. C. (2025) · Military Medicine · doi:10.1093/milmed/usaf258 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Missing data in microrandomized trials: Challenges and opportunities
Zhang, S., Dziak, J. J., Benson, L., Yap, J. R. T., Jones, D. R., Lam, C. Y., Potter, L. N., Wetter, D. W., & Nahum-Shani, I. B. (2025) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-025-02885-y · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Across domains, researchers call for future work to develop a tailored, personalized approach to psychological interventions (Chen et al., 2020; Eather et al., 2022; Fu et al., 2020; Moe-Byrne et al., 2022; Moshe et al., 2021).”
de Miquel, C., Feltz-Cornelis, C. M. V. D., Roijen, L. H., Merecz‐Kot, D., Sinokki, M., Rodeiro, J., Sweetman, J., Staszewska, K., Vorstenbosch, E., Porricelli, D., et al. (2026) · Interactive Journal of Medical Research · doi:10.2196/66041 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“A recent review [12] suggests that personalized digital interventions demonstrated positive outcomes when it comes to reducing presenteeism, alleviating stress, improving sleep, and addressing physical symptoms associated with somatization.”
InfluentialSelf-citationKronthaler, S. M., Kosman, E., Tissen‐Diabaté, T., Mühle, E., Weber-Schallauer, L., Pross, T., Karsten, M. M., Beier, K. M., & Hatzler, D. L. (2026) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/86042 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Flexible options—such as individually selectable modules, exercises, or notifications and supplementary materials (eg, workbooks)—may better address diverse user needs [153,154].”
Yoon, S., Goh, H., Low, X. C., Weng, J. H., & Heaukulani, C. (2023) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4579836
PROSPECTS FOR IMPLEMENTING DIGITAL TOOLS FOR HEALTH PROMOTION IN THE WORKPLACE
Aleksandrenko, H. D., & Shevchenko, M. (2024) · Clinical and Preventive Medicine · doi:10.31612/2616-4868.7.2024.14
“…align with previous research in this direction on the efficacy of digital products and services for CHPs. Specifically, a systematic review discovered that digital health interventions can positively impact employee health indicators, such as reducing stress and improving mental health [16].”
Impact of Digital Interventions in Occupational Health Care: A Systematic Review
Jern-Matintupa, M. M., Riipinen, A., & Laine, M. K. (2025) · Mayo Clinic Proceedings Digital Health · doi:10.1016/j.mcpdig.2025.100216
Sophasath, M., Tremblay, M., Hogue, C., Dussault, A., Brassard, C., Vincent, C., Rose, C. F., & Bémeur, C. (2025) · Canadian Liver Journal · doi:10.3138/canlivj-2024-0058
Sasaki, N., Shimazu, T., Ogawa, S., Sawada, U., Powell, B. J., Saito, J., Odawara, M., Takeno, H., Tsutsumi, A., & Imamura, K. (2025) · Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine · doi:10.1097/jom.0000000000003430
Supporting Police Well-Being Through an Adaptive Shift Management System: Co-Design Study
Ayorinde, O. T., Doğan, H., Adedoyin, F. F., Jiang, N., Bitters, F., & Dempsey, S. (2025) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/69986 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Mental health issues such as stress, depression, and anxiety remain prevalent due to existing apps often suffering from low adherence, insufficient customization for irregular schedules, and weak user engagement due to failure in accommodating fluctuating work patterns [45,46].”
Kowalski, L., Finnes, A., Koch, S., & Bujacz, A. (2025) · doi:10.2196/preprints.83753
Opie, J. E., Vuong, A. T., Pearce, N., McIntosh, J., & Kuntsche, S. (2025) · Mental Health and Digital Technologies · doi:10.1108/mhdt-07-2025-0049
Wray, A. J. D., O’Bright, K. R., Zhong, S., Doherty, S. T., Luubert, M., Long, J., Reining, C. E., Lemieux, C. J., Salter, J., & Gilliland, J. (2025) · PLOS Digital Health · doi:10.1371/journal.pdig.0001133
“For example, smartphone apps have been used to improve mental health [2,5,6], promote healthy dietary behaviours to tackle obesity [7–9], support people experiencing chronic disease [10–12], observe communicable disease patterns [13,14], and promote sustained change in health behaviours [3,15,16].”
Thomsen, A., Syrek, C. J., Brückner, H., de Bloom, J., Janneck, M., Domin, M., Reins, J. A., & Lehr, D. (2026) · Frontiers in Digital Health · doi:10.3389/fdgth.2026.1698339
“While some studies indicate that targeting transdiagnostic risk factors, such as stress or repetitive negative thinking, show no significant advantage over control conditions in reducing depressive symptoms in the general working population (90), others have reported significant differences (91).”
Wu, J., GAO, C., Yin, H., & Piao, D. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1813784
Jung, J.-Y., Cho, I., & Moon, J. H. (2026) · Workplace Health & Safety · doi:10.1177/21650799261454290
“In particular, workplace-based digital interventions have been shown to improve productivity-related outcomes, especially among workers experiencing higher levels of distress or presenteeism (Deady et al., 2025; Moe-Byrne et al., 2022).”
Mental Health and STARA Integration for Educator Well-Being and Performance
Yolanda, A., & Andika, A. (2026) · Springer proceedings in business and economics · doi:10.1007/978-981-95-6415-6_21
Gellner, C., Michael Fellmann, M. A., & Fuellen, G. (2026) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-29842-3_10
Sharma, S., & Pandey, S. C. (2026) · Organizational Dynamics · doi:10.1016/j.orgdyn.2026.101246
Ajlani, A. H., & Meyer, U. (2026) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-31285-3_38
Pacheco, T., Gagnon, J., Khau, M., & Coulombe, S. (2026) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-026-60043-6
“Reflecting research demonstrating that tailored interventions are advantageous for improving workers’ health and well-being 31,32 , workers’ ability to tailor their experience by choosing from multiple functions available in Recharjme’s rest cabin may result in advantageous personal and workplace…”
Davis, J. (2026) · The Coaching Psychologist · doi:10.53841/bpstcp.2026.21.2.19
Sutikno, A., Kustyadji, G., & Prassida, G. F. (2026) · Indonesian Journal of Multidisciplinary on Social and Technology · doi:10.69693/ijmst.v4i3.13968
- Authors
- Moe-Byrne, T., Shepherd, J., Merecz-Kot, D., Sinokki, M., Naumanen, P., Hakkaart-van Roijen, L., & Van Der Feltz-Cornelis, C.
- Affiliations
- University of York (GB)
- University of Turku (FI)
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLOS Digital Health
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2022-10-21
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- e0000123
- ISSN
- 2767-3170 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9931277
- OpenAlex
- W4307003123
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 6
- FWCI
- 1.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLOS Digital Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- UTUPub (University of Turku) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- UTUPub (University of Turku) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Horizon 2020 (848180)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Keywords
- workplace mental health, presenteeism, absenteeism, labor productivity, psychological distress, depression, anxiety, occupational stress, sleep, somatization, employee well-being
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