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Common mental health disorders (CMHD) occur frequently amongst employees and may reduce the productivity of a workforce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a one-day interactive workshop for occupational health (OH) professionals in improving their knowledge of CMHD and their confidence in identifying CHMD in the workplace.
Methods
Five one-day workshops were delivered around England. Questionnaires assessing participants’ knowledge of CMHD and confidence and attitude towards assessing employees with CMHD were administered immediately before the workshops (T1) and immediately after the workshops (T2). The participants’ confidence in assessing CHMD and their change in practice as a result of their training was assessed by questionnaire 4-months following the workshops (T3).
Results
A total of 164 OH practitioners attended the workshops. 128 (78%) of participants completed all three questionnaires. Mean participant knowledge scores were analysed across the sample before and after training, and within four sub-groups comprising of the number of years spent in OH and the presence/absence of previous training in CMHD at work. A moderate, but statistically significant (p<0.5), increase in knowledge score occurred regardless of the time the participant had spent working in OH, or if a participant had undergone previous training in assessing CMHD. Confidence in assessing CMHD in the workplace was significantly higher immediately after the training (T2) and remained significantly higher than the pre-training confidence levels at T3 (Fischer Exact test p<0.5). At four months 87 (68%) of participants reported that their practice had changed as a result of training they had received at the workshop.
Discussion
An interactive one-day training workshop on CMHD was effective in increasing the knowledge and confidence of OH professionals in assessing CMHD in the workplace. The increase in confidence was maintained at four months following the training.