Demand-side Employment Interventions for Individuals with Common Mental Disorders: a Scoping Review

Traditional approaches to vocational rehabilitation tend to focus on improving worker skills and competencies rather than addressing barriers and inequities in existing workplace structures. The purpose of this scoping review is to provide an overview of current demand-side employment interventions that are aimed at building inclusive hiring and retention practices for persons living with common mental disorders (CMD). Methods Using the method advanced by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), and furthered by Levac et al., (2010), we carried out a scoping review to identify the range and breadth of literature exploring demand-side employment interventions for individuals with CMD. One rater screened titles and abstracts and two independent raters evaluated full-text articles against a set of inclusion/exclusion criteria. A descriptive analysis was conducted to highlight the state of the literature in this area. Results A total of 10 articles were retrieved, including six empirical papers and four theoretical papers. Three broad themes were extracted from the literature: (1) Workplaces as a determinant of worker health; (2) Unique interventions are needed for different work sectors; and (3) Individualistic perspectives embedded in demand-side interventions. Conclusions Demand-side employment interventions hold promise for building employer capacity to hire and retain people with CMD. There is a need for innovative approaches to engage workplace stakeholders in developing and evaluating innovative solutions to build inclusive workplaces.