EAP 2.0: reimagining the role of the employee assistance program in the new workplace.

Mental illness is a highly prevalent problem that affects millions of individuals. Like many other previous natural disasters and terrorist attacks, the recent Covid-19 pandemic has placed an enormous stress on the world and its workforce. In many ways the pandemic revealed gaps in the quality and availability of mental health resources, and, by magnifying the intense demand, it also spurred innovation.

Community capacity-building in disaster mental health resilience: a pilot study of an academic/faith partnership model.

We describe an academic/faith partnership approach for enhancing the capacity of communities to resist or rebound from the impact of terrorism and other mass casualty events. Representatives of several academic health centers (AHCs) collaborated with leaders of urban Christian-, Jewish-, and Muslim faith-based organizations (FBOs) to design, deliver, and preliminarily evaluate a train-the-trainer approach to enhancing individual competencies in the provision of psychological first aid and in disaster planning for their respective communities. Evidence of partner commitment to, and full participation in, project implementation responsibilities confirmed the feasibility of the overall AHC/FBO collaborative model, and individual post-training, self-report data on perceived effectiveness of the program indicated that the majority of community trainees evaluated the interventions as having significantly increased their: (a) knowledge of disaster mental health concepts; (b) skills (self-efficacy) as providers of psychological first aid and bereavement support services, and (c) (with somewhat less confidence because of module brevity) capabilities of leading disaster preparedness planning efforts within their communities.

Beyond symptomatic improvement:assessing real-world outcomes in patients with major depressive disorder.

Objective: To quantify the negative impact that major depressive disorder (MDD) has on quality of life, disability, and work, family, and overall psychosocial functioning. Available scales that assess these areas of impairment as they relate to patients with MDD are described.

Data Sources: PUBMED SEARCHES WERE CONDUCTED USING THE FOLLOWING TERMS: (MDD OR major depressive disorder) AND (absenteeism OR absente*); AND (quality of life OR QOL); AND (psychosocial function*); AND (presente* OR presenteeism); AND (health care cost* OR [health care] cost*); AND (health outcome*); AND (functional outcome*); AND (family life); AND (disabil* OR disability); AND (work function*); AND (unemployment OR unemploy*).

A quantitative expression of resiliency in the workplace: an odds ratio analysis.

This paper reviews four empirical investigations into the effectiveness of workplace-based crisis intervention programs designed to enhance psychological resiliency. As an extension of a previously published review of effect sizes of workplace-based crisis interventions (Everly et al., 2006), this paper extends the expression of intervention effectiveness by proposing, then utilizing, the odds ratio statistic.

Building resistance, resilience, and recovery in the wake of school and workplace violence.

Incidents of school and workplace violence are rare but devastating events that can result in significant psychological consequences in communities. The majority of people in the United States will experience some type of traumatic event in their lifetime, but most of them will have no disruption or only transient disruption in functioning. They are either resistant to the development of symptoms or resilient, able to bounce back quickly.

Etiology of depression and implications on work environment.

Objective: We describe the etiology of clinical forms of depression and their interaction with workplace factors.

Methods: We performed selective literature searches in pertinent research areas and reviewed the literature in the context of clinical experience in several depression programs at Johns Hopkins.

Results: Substantial research exists about the causes of depression.

A missing element in disaster mental health: behavioral health surveillance for first responders.

Considerable literature exists on surveillance for medical effects of responses to a disaster but there is a dearth of information on conducting surveillance of behavioral health effects for first responders. This article reviews the literature and rationale behind behavioral health surveillance in the context of medical surveillance of first responders, examines special populations and ethical issues, discusses a model currently used by the U.S.

Surveillance of workers responding under the National Response Plan.

The National Response Plan (NRP) establishes the framework for the nation's response to major disasters. We offer seven recommendations related to surveillance of workers who respond to events under the NRP. These recommendations address the rationale for and principles of medical surveillance in the context of large-scale disasters and the NRP; means of identifying and registering the populations that should be included in surveillance activities; the role of exposure assessment in medical surveillance; behavioral health issues; and principles regarding the communication and use of surveillance data.

Ultrasound biomicroscopy in asymmetric pigment dispersion syndrome and pigmentary glaucoma.

Objective: To identify differences in anterior chamber anatomy among patients with asymmetric pigment dispersion syndrome and no other discernible cause for the asymmetry.

Methods: Ultrasound biomicroscopy and A-scan biometry were performed on both eyes of 13 patients with asymmetric pigment dispersion syndrome without a known cause for asymmetric involvement. A radial perpendicular image in the horizontal temporal meridian detailing the scleral spur, angle anatomy, and iris configuration was obtained for each eye by 2 examiners.

Is there a duty for private employers to provide emergency mental health care services?

This article presents a discussion of whether employers in private companies have a duty to provide an emergency action plan with a mental health component for its employees. It discusses basic negligence concepts and focuses mainly on the "duty of care" component of negligence. It then applies the negligence concepts to private employers and discusses how private companies arguably might have a duty under the laws of negligence to provide employees with an emergency action plan, specifically a plan including mental health provisions.

How much does quality mental health care profit employers?

Objective: Employers provide most American mental health benefits and are increasingly cost conscious. However, commonplace anxiety and depressive disorders have enormous economic and workplace performance costs.

Methods: We performed multiple literature searches on several areas of pertinent research (and on key articles) covering the past 5 years.

Rethinking first response: effects of the clean up and recovery effort on workers at the world trade center disaster site.

Objective: We sought to describe the physical and mental health effects of the cleanup and recovery effort on workers at the World Trade Center disaster site.

Methods: A mailed survey was sent to truck drivers, heavy equipment operators, laborers, and carpenters. It assessed work-related exposures and somatic and mental health symptoms.

The evolving nature of disaster mental health services.

It may be said that the field of emergency/disaster mental health is a mental health subspecialization that continues, even today, to quantitatively expand and qualitatively evolve. For this evolutionary process to continue successfully, greater sophistication must be realized both tactically, as well as strategically. This paper reviews the evolving nature of crisis intervention and emergency/disaster mental health.