The DOI matches its Crossref record; 119 of the 121 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Workplace-Based Organizational Interventions Promoting Mental Health and Happiness among Healthcare Workers: A Realist Review
Open accessAbstract
Mental illness, deemed globally to account for 32% of years lived with a disability, generates significant impacts on workplaces. In particular, healthcare workers experience high rates of mental ill health such as burnout, stress, and depression due to workplace conditions including excessive workloads, workplace violence and bullying, which also produces negative effects on patients as well as on the happiness and wellbeing of those who remain at work. This review was undertaken to synthesize the evidence on workplace-based interventions at the organizational level promoting mental health and wellbeing among healthcare workers, to identify what has been receiving attention in this area and why, especially considering how such positive effects are produced. A search of three premier health-related databases identified 1290 articles that discussed healthcare workers, workplace interventions, and mental health. Following further examination, 46 articles were ultimately selected as meeting the criteria specifying interventions at the organizational level and combined with similar studies included in a relevant Cochrane review. The 60 chosen articles were then analyzed following a realist framework analyzing context, mechanism, and outcome. Most of the studies included in the realist review were conducted in high-income countries, and the types of organizational-level interventions studied included skills and knowledge development, leadership development, communication and team building, stress management as well as workload and time management. Common themes from the realist review highlight the importance of employee engagement in the intervention development and implementation process. The literature review also supports the recognized need for more research on mental health and happiness in low- and middle-income countries, and for studies evaluating the longer-term effects of workplace mental health promotion.
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“Evaluating the effects of workplace-based interventions is complex, as there are many individual, organizational, and societal factors that affect employee mental health (24, 25).”
From An Ecological Study of a Universal Employee Depression Awareness and Stigma Reduction Intervention: “Right Direction” (2021) · cites this paper as [24]
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1 retracted
Panagioti, M., Geraghty, K., Johnson, J., Zhou, A. Y., Panagopoulou, E. P., Chew-Graham, C. A., Peters, D. H., Hodkinson, A., Riley, R. A., & Esmail, A. (2018) · JAMA Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.3713 · Cited by 1,059
RetractedThe benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success?
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.131.6.803 · Cited by 7,143
Shanafelt, T. D., Boone, S., Tan, L., Dyrbye, L. N., Sotile, W., Satele, D., West, C. P., Sloan, J., & Oreskovich, M. R. (2012) · Archives of Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3199 · Cited by 3,439
Realist review - a new method of systematic review designed for complex policy interventions
Pawson, R., Greenhalgh, T., Harvey, G., & Walshe, K. (2005) · Journal of Health Services Research & Policy · doi:10.1258/1355819054308530 · Cited by 3,190
Clement, S., Schauman, O., Graham, T., Maggioni, F., Evans-Lacko, S., Bezborodovs, N., Morgan, C., Rüsch, N., Brown, J. S. L., & Thornicroft, G. (2015) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291714000129 · Cited by 3,152
Shanafelt, T. D., Hasan, O., Dyrbye, L. N., Sinsky, C., Satele, D., Sloan, J., & West, C. P. (2015) · Mayo Clinic Proceedings · doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2015.08.023 · Cited by 2,885
Estimating the true global burden of mental illness
Vigo, D., Thornicroft, G., & Atun, R. (2016) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(15)00505-2 · Cited by 2,494
RAMESES publication standards: realist syntheses
Wong, G., Greenhalgh, T., Westhorp, G., Buckingham, J., & Pawson, R. (2013) · BMC Medicine · doi:10.1186/1741-7015-11-21 · Cited by 1,374
Designing and evaluating complex interventions to improve health care
Campbell, N. C., Murray, E., Darbyshire, J., Emery, J., Farmer, A., Griffiths, F., Guthrie, B., Lester, H., Wilson, P., & Kinmonth, A. L. (2007) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.39108.379965.be · Cited by 1,331
Dollard, M. F., & Bakker, A. B. (2009) · Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1348/096317909x470690 · Cited by 1,228
Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 121 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- de Neve, J.-E. (2018). Chapter 5: Work and Well-being: A Global Perspective. Global Happiness Policy Report, Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
- Parsons, 2004, Capacity building for magnetism at multiple levels: A healthy workplace intervention, part I, Top. Emerg. Med., 26, 287
- Wallbank, 2010, Effectiveness of individual clinical supervision for midwives and doctors in stress reduction: findings from a pilot study, Evid. Based Midwifery, 8, 65
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Items 301–302 of 302
Silva‐Ramos, C. R., Cristancho, S. P., Hernández, Y. E. M., Osma, J. I. P., Soler‐Tovar, D., & Ramírez‐Hernández, A. (2026) · Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease · doi:10.3390/tropicalmed11100284
Andargeery, S. Y., Alenazi, D. F., AlOthman, N. O., Mutairi, R. A. A., AlShahrani, R. A., Alqahtani, S. A., Aldhafeeri, N. S., Alshomrani, R. M., & Alwesmi, M. B. (2026) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs16111968
Metadata
- Authors
- Gray, P., Senabe, S., Naicker, N., Kgalamono, S., Yassi, A., & Spiegel, J. M.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Department of Health (ZA)
- National Health Laboratory Service (ZA)
- Corresponding author
- Spiegel, Jerry M.
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2019-11-11
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 4396
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6888154
- OpenAlex
- W2985491257
- Cited by
- 295
- References
- 121
- Citations by year
- 2026: 33 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 63 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 10
- FWCI
- 4.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- cIRcle (University of British Columbia) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Open Collections
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (ROH-115212)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Keywords
- workplace interventions, organizational interventions, mental health promotion, happiness, well-being, healthcare workers, burnout, occupational stress, workload, workplace harassment, workplace violence, leadership development, stress management, employee engagement, team building, low- and middle-income countries
- MeSH terms
- Burnout, Professional, Happiness, Health Personnel, Health Promotion, Humans, Leadership, Mental Health, Workload, Workplace, Bullying, Workplace Violence
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