BACKGROUND Depressive disorders are highly prevalent in the working population and are associated with excessive costs for both society and companies. Effective treatment for employees with depressive symptoms in occupational health care is limited. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an indicated preventive web-based guided self-help course f...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to describe primary health care managers' attitudes and views on recruitment and human resource development in general and to ascertain whether there are any differences in the views of managers in the southern and northern regions of Finland. STUDY DESIGN A postal questionnaire was sent to 315 primary health care managers, of whom 55% responded. METHODS ...

One of the main aims of the new Mental Health Care Act, Act No. 17 of 2002 (MHCA) is to promote the human rights of people with mental disabilities in South Africa. However, the upholding of these rights seems to be subject to the availability of resources. Chapter 2 of the MHCA clarifies the responsibility of the State to provide infrastructure and systems. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Act defin...

The cost of mental health care continues to rise at a rate greater than that of the rest of the health care sector. Efforts to contain the rising costs of psychiatric and substance abuse care have spawned different strategies for reducing use of expensive hospital resources. Strategies that focus on the management of hospital episodes case by case fall under the rubric of managed care. In this ...

This Issue Brief discusses continuation-of-coverage mandates under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). It provides background information on health insurance portability and job mobility, data on the cost to employers of providing continuation of coverage to former employees, and a summary of empirical research on COBRA's effect on employee benefits and job mobil...

Although evidence from scientific evaluations of health promotion programs has demonstrated improvements in selected health outcomes, the relationship between participation in health programs and definitive economic returns in medical cost savings has been more difficult to establish. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of employee participation in health promotion programs with...

OBJECTIVE To assess the initial impact of offering consumer-defined health plan (CDHP) options on employees. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING A mail survey of 4,680 employees in the corporate offices of Humana Inc. in June 2001. STUDY DESIGN The study was a cross-sectional mail survey of employees aged 18 and older who were eligible for health care benefits. The survey was conducted following ope...

UNLABELLED Educational qualifications are reliable predictors of women's self-assessed health. AIMS To study possible inequalities in health among women with different educational backgrounds working in geriatric care and to find groups that might need special public health measures. METHODS In this cross-sectional questionnaire reaching throughout Iceland, the participants were employees i...

Employee health promotion programs increase work productivity and effectively reduce employer costs related to health care and absenteeism, and enhance worker productivity. Components of an effective worksite health program include stress management, exercise and nutrition and/or weight management classes or counseling. Few studies have documented correlates of health behaviors in school-based ...

BACKGROUND Moral case deliberation (MCD) as a form of clinical ethics support is usually implemented in health care institutions and educational programs. While there is no previous research on the use of clinical ethics support on the level of health care regulation, employees of regulatory bodies are regularly confronted with moral challenges. This pilot study describes and evaluates the use ...