Depressive Symptomatik: Ansatzpunkte für die Arbeitsgestaltung

Based on the findings of existing studies on the relationship between psychosocial workload, stress and mental health so-called “key factors” could be identified which have influence on other work-related factors but are not influenced by other factors. Accordingly, there exist great knowledge about the relationships between psychosocial workload and health. This explorative study aims to identify workload related factors that should be prioritized for design measures when employees are experiencing depressive symptoms.

The data set of the longitudinal “Study on Mental Health at Work—S-MGA” was used for this purpose. The assessment of mental stress was based on scales from the “Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire—COPSOQ” and the determination of depressive symptoms was based on the “Patient Health Questionnaire—PHQ-9”.

The stress assessments collected in the first wave (2011/2012) of the S‑MGA and the PHQ‑9 findings obtained in the second wave (2017) were included in the analysis.

A discriminant analysis carried out separately for both genders identified “amount of work” and “quality of leadership” as the stress factors for women and “opportunities for development” for men that contribute most to differentiating between employees with and without depressive symptoms.

Practical Relevance: The results of the study provide indications of stress factors that should be prioritized for work design measures for employees to avoid depressive symptoms. The findings should therefore be helpful for a health-related design of work.