Web-based interventions for mental health promotion in employees: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background. There is growing interest in web-based intervention for promoting mental health in working populations. A number of randomized controlled trials have been conducted; however the results are heterogeneous. This work aims to synthesize the results of randomized controlled trials on web-based mental health interventions for employees. Methods. A systematic search was performed and 4151 abstracts were identified. A meta-analysis was conducted including 18 studies. Cohen’s d was calculated for stress and depression to estimate the effect of the intervention group compared with a care as usual-, a waitlist-, or a no-treatment control group. Results. Analysis of data is still on-going. Available results show small to moderate effect sizes for web-based mental health interventions in employees for the reduction of stress (Cohen’s d=0.34, 95% CI=-0.15-0.53, n=14) and depression (d=0.31, 95% CI =0.15-0.46, n=13). Interventions of medium length (4-8 weeks) are significantly more effective than long (≥ 9 weeks) and short (≤ 4 weeks) interventions in reducing stress (p<.001) and improving depressive symptoms (p<.05). Moreover, guided interventions are superior to unguided interventions in reducing stress and depression (p<.01). No significant difference was present for the type of treatment. Discussion. This meta-analysis demonstrates that internet interventions for improving mental health in employees are available and can be effective. However, the effect sizes vary from trial to trial from non-significant to large, indicating that each individual intervention needs to be evaluated before implementation. So far, interventions are designed along theories of work-stress only seldom and moderators of chance are almost unknown.