About MENTUPP
What is the MENTUPP project?
MENTUPP is a four-year EU-funded project involving 17 partners, and focuses on companies and sectors with the greatest need to deliver the greatest impact. The primary aim of MENTUPP is to improve mental health in the workplace by developing, implementing and evaluating a multilevel intervention targeting mental health difficulties (non-clinical and clinical) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across construction, health and ICT sectors. A secondary aim is to reduce depression and suicidal behaviour.
Background
One in five European workers reported poor mental well-being stress, depression1. Depression and anxiety are the most prevalent mental health difficulties in the workplace in the EU2, and depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy €1 trillion each year in lost productivity3. Workers in certain occupational sectors, such as construction, health and ICT, have poorer mental health, an elevated risk of suicide and reduced wellbeing.
While work environments can contribute to poor mental health, workplaces can also be a source of well-being. The MENTUPP project will develop and evaluate an intervention to improve mental health in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the construction, health and ICT sectors. During the project, we will:
Components
The MENTUPP Hub provides learning materials that address:
Pilot Study
The MENTUPP Pilot Study was conducted in eight European countries and Australia from May to December 2021. Each pilot country aimed to recruit at least 23 respondents in 1 or more SMEs in one of the three high-risk sectors: construction, healthcare and ICT. Across the nine pilot countries, 25 SMEs were recruited to participate in the Pilot Study and a total of 1219 people were employed by the participating SMEs by 01 Nov 2021. The Study employed both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the adoption, the reach, the effectiveness, the feasibility, the implementation, the acceptability, the appropriateness, and the maintenance of MENTUPP.
Clustered Randomised Controlled Trial
The MENTUPP Clustered Randomised Controlled Trial (cRCT) will begin in June 2022 in Europe and Australia. To ensure that the intervention will be fit-for-purpose and measure their impact, the Trial will be conducted in 54 SMEs across 9 countries and evaluated accordingly. Half of the SMEs will be in the ‘intervention group’ which will receive immediate access to the MENTUPP Hub. The other half will be in the ‘control group’ and not access the Hub for one year so that we can compare the two groups and evaluate the impact of the MENTUPP Trial.
Consortium
University College Cork
UCC coordinates the MENTUPP project with overall responsibility for the development and assessment of the MENTUPP intervention, including conduct of the cluster randomised controlled trial in eight EU countries.
National Suicide Research Foundation
NSRF will lead the MENTUPP pilot, implement the MENTUPP intervention in Ireland and contribute to the pilot and cluster randomised controlled trial analysis (WP8), as well as support project management.
European Alliance Against Depression
EAAD leads the development of the intervention components for depression/anxiety and creation and maintenance of the MENTUPP Hub, as well as participates in the pilot and cluster randomised controlled trial in cooperation with the German Depression Foundation. EAAD also leads the communication, dissemination and exploitation activities.
National Research Centre for the Working Environment
NRCWE will contribute expertise in psychosocial workplace aspects, mental health problems, and workplace intervention studies, by contributing to the development of intervention components related to stress, burnout, depressive symptoms and wellbeing, as well as the evidence base on barriers and facilitators for the MENTUPP intervention.
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
THL will contribute to the development of the intervention components related to Wellbeing, Stress and Depressive Symptoms’, looking at how promoting mental wellbeing can be incorporated in the MENTUPP intervention.
Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Unit
NMAHP RU will contribute understanding of the challenges (and facilitators) for implementation of the MENTUPP interventions and ensure that implementation potential is maximised with reference to current evidence and implementation science.
Semmelweis University
SEM will lead the development of the de-stigmatisation component of the MENTUPP intervention and will participate as implementation countries in the pilot and cluster randomised controlled trial.
Stichting Kenniscentrum Phrenos
PHRENOS will participate in the pilot implementation of the developed MENTUPP interventions in health SMEs in the Netherlands, as well as the cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the MENTUPP intervention.
Community Centre for Health and Wellbeing
CCHW will participate as an implementation country in the pilot and cluster randomised controlled trial of the MENTUPP intervention.
Per Mendje te Shendoshe
ZSMKOS will participate in the pilot implementation of the MENTUPP intervention and conduct the implementation and evaluation of the optimised MENTUPP intervention in Kosovo in the cluster randomised controlled trial.
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
LSHTM brings unique experience in engaging and supporting research activities in Low and Middle Income Countries, like Albania and Kosovo, and will support pilot and cluster randomised controlled trial implementation of the MENTUPP intervention in Albania and Kosovo.
Consorci Mar Parc de Salut de Barcelona
IMIM will lead the creation of components for the MENTUPP intervention that raise awareness and improve early identification of sector-specific and gender-specific mental health issues.
International Association for Suicide Prevention
IASP will facilitate the dissemination and praxis transfer of project results globally through their international experts.
Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention
AISRAP will contribute to developing a standard method to evaluate the implementation processes of the MENTUPP intervention, data analysis (quantitative and qualitative), formulating recommendations to improve the MENTUPP intervention and its implementation, and preparing evidence briefs, reports and publications.
Mates in Construction
MIC will contribute their expertise in developing, implementing and evaluating workplace mental health interventions in the construction industry.
Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, IOSH
As an advisor IOSH collaborates with the MENTUPP project by providing professional and expert insights into occupational health with particular focus on SMEs. IOSH supports the notion that mental health well being is an important aspect of occupational health and safety.
ImpleMentAll (H2020-funded, 2017 – 2021): Partners EAAD, CMZP, CCHW participate in this project developing a toolkit for tailored implementation of evidence-based eHealth interventions, tested with interventions for mental disorders in the EU and Australia. The “Mental Health Promotion and Intervention in Occupational Settings” project will have access to the eHealth interventions used in ImpleMentAll, to optimise and tailor these to the construction, health and ICT SMEs.
Mates in Construction (MIC, 2008 – present): MIC implements an evidence-based programme developed by partners MIC and AISRAP, based on a research project into suicides in the Queensland Commercial Building and Construction Industry. Research and seeking best practice remain key priorities, serving to continually improve the programme. The “Mental Health Promotion and Intervention in Occupational Settings” project will leverage MIC’s commitment to sharing learnings with other like-minded projects, and incorporate successful elements of the programme in the intervention.
Optimising suicide prevention programs and their implementation in Europe (OSPI-Europe, FP7-funded, 2008 – 2013): Involving partners EAAD, KU LEUVEN, STIRLING, SEM and NSRF, OSPI-Europe provided an evidence-based concept for suicide prevention with concrete materials and instruments for running and evaluating interventions, as well as recommendations for intervention implementation.
OSPI-Europe provided the basis for the Preventing Depression and Improving Awareness through Networking in the EU project (PREDI-NU, EC Framework Health Programme, 2011 – 2014), where a number of partners (EAAD, UCC, NSRF, KU LEUVEN, SEM, NMAHP-RU, LSE) participated to develop an internet-based guided self-management tool for mild to moderate depression.
The iFightDepression® tool and website (ifightdepression.com) are publicly available and will be adapted to SME needs within the “Mental Health Promotion and Intervention in Occupational Settings” project. The concept, approach, tools and partner expertise from PREDI-NU and OSPI-Europe will be incorporated into the intervention development, implementation and assessment.
EMPOWER is a Horizon 2020 EU-funded project with an innovative pilot of implementation, which focuses on the development and implementation of a novel and low-cost eHealth platform to address mental health in the workplace from a multimodal perspective.
H-WORK is a Horizon 2020 EU-funded project with the purpose of designing, implementing and validating effective multi-level assessment and intervention toolkits, evaluating individual and organisational outcomes of the adopted measures and provide further innovative products and services. The aim is to effectively promote mental health, along with policy recommendations for employers, occupational health professionals and policy makers.
Magnet4Europe is a four-year Horizon 2020 EU-funded project that transfers, modifies, scales up, and evaluates the evidence-based Magnet model of organizational redesign of clinical health care work environments in 6 European countries.
MindBot is a four-year Horizon 2020 EU-funded project that aims at identifying methods and implementing solutions for promoting good mental health in the emerging industry 4.0 within the specific context of manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that adopt collaborative robots (cobots) in their production lines.