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Over 2.7 million workers are employed in the UK construction industry and with the fragmented nature of the construction sector; cases of poor mental health of workers are on the increase. This upsurge in the number of workers experiencing poor mental health could directly impact construction safety with significant financial adverse consequences on employers and the UK economy. Studies have identified lapses within the construction sector emphasising the lack of transparency regarding reporting of mental health and well-being of construction workers due to the inadequate engagement from employers and the lack of genuine leadership commitment to tackle mental health.

This study adopted a non-probability purposive sampling strategy, using a self-selected sample. A self-administered questionnaire benchmarked against the mental health core and enhanced standards tools by the “Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers” served as the basis for the methodology. A total of 106 industry managers from highways, construction, maritime, utilities, home building, rail and haulage/fleet were involved in this study.

The findings indicate that the industry is making good strides towards addressing mental health issues; poor mental health have significant financial burdens on businesses and the economy; some contractors have mental health initiatives and programmes in place; there is inconsistency of support available to employees; some contractors now integrate leadership training; the level of engagement vary based on the strategy and action plan adopted by organisations; different mechanisms are adopted for monitoring mental health issues, and there are cross-industry initiatives.

A limitation of this study is the number of participants which is not representative of the entire UK construction workforce. Therefore, the findings from this study as much as it presents some understanding of employee mental health and well-being cannot be overtly generalised across multiple industries, different geographic regions or contexts.

Employers should have a clear representation of the mental health of their employees to help them understand what affects worker’s mental well-being and how they can support them. Disregarding the multifaceted causes of mental ill-health due to the perceived financial implications could be more devastating for the industry.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether a multifaceted intervention could improve mental health literacy, facilitate help seeking and reduce psychological distress and alcohol misuse in staff of a multi-campus university in Australia.

In this cluster randomised trial (ACTRN12610001027000), nine campuses were paired, with one of each pair randomly assigned to either intervention or control. Interventions (which were whole-of-campus) included e-mails, posters, campus events, factsheets/booklets and mental health first aid training courses. A monitoring sample of staff were recruited from each campus. Participants had a 20-minute computer-assisted telephone interview at baseline, and at the end of academic years 1 and 2. The interview assessed mental health literacy, help seeking for mental health problems, psychological distress and alcohol use. The primary outcomes were depression and anxiety levels and alcohol use and pertained to the individual level. Six campuses were randomised to intervention and three to control and all campuses were included in the analysis.

There were no effects on depression and anxiety levels and alcohol use. Recall of intervention elements was greater in the intervention group at the end of the two-year assessment period. Staff in the intervention group showed better recognition of depression, greater knowledge of the National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines for safe levels of drinking and a greater intention to seek help for alcohol misuse from a general practitioner.

Future interventions should involve more focused interventions that include consideration of working conditions and their influence on mental health, as well as addressing mental illness among employees, regardless of cause.

This paper aims to examine the progress of the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) over the first five years of its existence toward stated goals while existing outside the constitutional framework of health care funding.

The paper is a review of the outputs of the MHCC with emphasis on its first‐ever mental health strategy for Canada, knowledge exchange network, anti‐stigma initiatives, randomized controlled trial of housing‐first initiatives for the homeless mentally ill, as well as other completed projects.

Consultation and collaboration are essential aspects of working successfully with people with lived experience of mental illness, their families, health professionals, and governments. At the same time, when expectations are high, needs are great, and opinions are varied, disappointment and frustration are inevitable.

Although the MHCC initiatives include the largest single funded research project in mental health in Canadian history, and evaluation is built into other initiatives, the political dimension of its work does not lend itself to research evaluation.

The creation of an organization outside the constitutional framework of health care funding may allow for a catalytic role in precipitating change.

The emphasis on anti‐stigma campaigns targeted at defined populations (youth, health professionals, workforce, journalists) may combat the discrimination people with mental illnesses and their families experience.

The paper shows that the Canadian experience is, to date, largely undescribed in the peer‐reviewed literature and may influence other jurisdictions. One of its interventions is already being replicated internationally.

“GoodYarn” is a skills-based workshop that focusses on building mental health literacy in rural communities, members of which are known to experience geographic, attitudinal and service configuration barriers to accessing mental health services. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the GoodYarn project on raising mental health literacy in the rural community.

GoodYarn is primarily for farmers, their families and farm workers, as well as the “farmer facing” workforce. The focus on mental health literacy aligns with the mental health promotion approach of using methods that foster supportive environments. By raising the mental health literacy of those not directly needing help, but in positions to help those that do – such as employers, rural professionals and rural support industries who are well placed to perceive stressors in farmers – GoodYarn builds a community with the knowledge and skills to identify and approach those experiencing mental distress or illness, and direct them to appropriate support and services. All participants in the GoodYarn workshops (n=430) were invited to complete a questionnaire at the end of the workshop. All participants answered the questionnaire, with over 80 per cent answering all questions.

Participant feedback affirmed the utility of GoodYarn as an effective vehicle to facilitate the discussion of mental illness in rural farming communities of New Zealand. GoodYarn had a significant positive impact on the three immediate workshop indicators of awareness, confidence and knowledge (p<0.001 for all three indicators). Further, the high level of concordance in workshop outcomes across various organisations’ delivery indicates programme consistency and quality has been maintained throughout the upscaling of the programme.

The uptake of the GoodYarn programme by rural organisations and communities at a national level, and the positive evaluation results, provide encouragement that building mental health literacy in the rural workforce is a promising mental health promotion strategy.

Educators play a vital role in supporting tertiary education students’ mental health, as they have frequent interactions with their students. However, information on the strategies and difficulties educators face in this area is scarce, particularly within the multi-ethnic Asian population. Therefore, this study aims to explore Malaysian educators’ roles and challenges in handling students with mental health issues.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 12 educators from tertiary education in Malaysia. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

Four themes were emerged: perceived factors contributing to mental health issues among students, educators’ strategies in supporting students’ mental health, difficulties in supporting students’ mental health and training to support students’ mental health.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study exploring the roles and challenges educators face in supporting tertiary education students’ mental health in Malaysia.

Physical activity is increasingly recognised as critical to improving physical and mental health (MH). Understanding the education and training requirements of exercise professionals will support better integration of these emerging MH professionals within the multidisciplinary MH team. The purpose of this study was to determine the exposure to, knowledge and attitudes of final year exercise physiology students towards people with mental illness (MI).

Student exposure to and knowledge and attitudes of people living with MH were assessed via a 24-item online questionnaire.

In total, n = 63 out of 78 eligible students participated (81%). Of the participants, 81% (n = 51) showed a favourable attitude towards people with MI and 68% (n = 43) of participants had good knowledge of topics relating to MI. Significant correlations existed between the total score for attitude and any exposure to MH issues and having undertaken placement as part of university training and knowledge and total scores. Further training and education are needed to better equip exercise physiology graduates to work with people with MI.

This is the first study to examine the attitudes and knowledge of exercise physiology students towards people living with MI and their association with exposure to MI. Given the growing number of exercise professionals being integrated into multidisciplinary MH teams, this study may help to direct the delivery of associated training and education services.

Knowledge management (KM) implementation is the ideal solution for enhancing employee’s abilities like mental health and performance. This study aims at testing the impact of KM mechanism on personnel’s mental health at the Iran University of Medical Sciences.

The study is a descriptive, correlational and applied one. The library and field studies have been used to collect data through the questionnaire. The proposed model and the data have been analyzed using Smart PLS software. A questionnaire has been conducted by an arbitrary sampling method.

The results have shown that the main factors of KM have a direct, meaningful positive impact on innovation. Besides, the critical parameters of KM success, strategy and process have a significant and direct positive effect on the tendency for knowledge-sharing behavior. Further, the direct relationship of the trend for knowledge-sharing behavior with the mental health of employees has positively been confirmed. The results have also indicated that psychological empowerment has a positive and significant effect on the mental health of employees.

This study has investigated the four parameters (i.e. key factors for KM success, KM strategy, KM processes and psychological empowerment) impacting the knowledge-sharing intention, conduct of the people and the mental health of the employees. Scholars can investigate other personal and organizational parameters such as probable backgrounds of the knowledge-sharing intention, conduct and the mental health of the employees.

These findings will be essential in the understanding of the interplay among various signals in theory and the understanding of patients’ choices in the electronic health (e-health) community in practice. The results have implications for existing health management and e-health literature. The present paper will help policymakers, healthcare executives and project managers to effectively set their operations and make them maintainable, prevent unpredicted obstacles and better allocate their resources. Overall, the result of this paper will guide researchers who are working in the field of e-health.

The findings can develop robust knowledge-sharing platforms and offer insightful suggestions for management practitioners in emerging markets.

Around 400,000 working days per year are lost in the construction industry due to stress, depression or anxiety, but a large proportion of the industry – those primarily not based “on-site” – is not included in these statistics. Little research has been conducted in this group about their experiences of occupational stress. The authors explored how stress was experienced and managed by construction professionals and its perceived impact on health.

The authors interviewed 32 construction professionals in a British construction company, with varying levels of seniority and years in the industry. Interviews were transcribed, coded and analysed thematically.

Stress was viewed an inevitable and increasing part of the construction industry, exacerbated by recent economic challenges. Participants talked about a culture of stress and overwork but often felt unable to challenge it due to job insecurity. Senior management acknowledged stress was a problem within the industry and something that potentially threatened company productivity. Company-wide initiatives had been implemented to address stress levels (e.g. Mental Health First Aiders), but were criticised for ignoring underlying issues. Informal means of managing stress were identified, such as careful consideration of team dynamics, which allowed employees to form close bonds and using “banter” and camaraderie to relieve stress. However, the persistence of a macho male image meant some participants were reluctant to talk about their feelings at work. Participants described individual coping strategies, such as exercise, but these were hard to prioritise in challenging times.

There is growing recognition that health and well-being must be given greater priority in the construction industry. Industry pressures and competitive practices undermine efforts to improve staff well-being. Action must be taken at senior levels to address this conflict, while building on existing informal mechanisms of support and stress relief.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a focus for mental health training efforts to better equip officers to provide interventions and supports to help facilitate improved outcomes for people experiencing mental health crises.

A reflection on key evidence relating to mental health training programmes delivered to police, focussing on Australia, the USA and Canada.

While there are a number of similarities in the core content of mental health training programmes offered internationally, the availability and uptake of training across jurisdictions remains piecemeal and idiosyncratic. Police officers report a strong preference for hands-on experiential learning; this has immediate and direct relevance to their operational duties, and is consistent with core principles of andragogy. While all police employees require mental health training, specialised mental health training programmes should clearly be reserved for a select group of officers who volunteer after acquiring sufficient operational experience.

Priorities should centre on measuring the effectiveness of mental health training packages and discerning the active elements associated with changes in police skills and confidence, as well as identifying elements that support improved outcomes for people who experience mental illness and who have contact with the police.

Police need to continue to need to seek legitimacy with respect to their guardianship role as mental health interventionists. Training should tap into practice-based wisdom. Training should be practical, applied and reinforced through wider knowledge-based learning and workplace reinforcement. Training is needed for everyone, but specialised training is not for all. Police need to focus on the partnerships and expend time, energy and resources to maintain and grow them. Specialist (and other forms of) training needs to be evaluated so we understand what works?

There may be opportunities to streamline the delivery of knowledge-based aspects of mental health training and focus much more on experiential learning, both in specialised training courses as well as shorter mental health awareness sessions.