Psychosomatic consultation in the workplace: do we reach different users by changing the context?

Background In Germany, the proportion of mental health diagnoses in early retirement is currently at 40%, constituting the largest diagnostic group. Due to demographic changes, shortage of qualified staff is an increasing challenge for social insurance funds and the labour market. Work-related stress is known to promote common mental disorders (CMD) like depression, anxiety, functional somatoform disorder or adjustment disorders and results in a declining quality of life and work performance. Although the landscape of mental health services is well established in Germany, only 40% of affected individuals managed to obtain professional care. The unmet need for easily accessible and early interventions and the economic impact of CMD led to the development of a variety of offers at the interface between company supported and conventional mental health care (CAU) e.g. the “psychosomatic consultation in the workplace” (PCIW). To learn more about this complex system we set out to analyse user profile and change 12-weeks after consultation.